At the invitation of US President Joe Biden, in the evening of April 22, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the opening session of the Leaders Summit on Climate.
The Summit was held online in April 22-23, with the main purpose of encouraging the international community to make stronger global commitments to respond to climate change. Only this way, it becomes possible to achieve the goal of keeping global warming to below 2 degree Celsius as compared to the pre-industrial era, in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The opening session of the Summit was attended by the Heads and Prime Ministers of 40 countries, including the largest economies and strongest greenhouse gas emitters such as the US, China, EU, India, Russia, Japan, as well as other countries; and the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and leaders of many other regional and international organizations.
In the framework of the Summit, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc joined President Joe Biden, Prime Minister of Spain and Presidents of Nigeria and Poland to give a speech at an important session on the topic “Benefits Economy of Climate Action”, which took place in the evening of April 23. During the speech, Mr. President highlighted three points: First, the transitioning to a green, net-zero emission economy should be “… just and inclusive. It must ensure equal access to opportunity benefits, place the people the center and leave no one behind”. Second, it is imperative that “developed countries must continue to take the lead in emission reduction commitment while giving greater concrete support to developing countries, including Vietnam, in financing in new technology development in high quality and efficient infrastructure and in job creation”. Finally, he emphasized: “The pursuit of climate goals should be compatible with each country’s conditions, including the need to alter their lifestyles, their modes of production and their work. This endeavor must be integrated into national development strategies and plans. Each country must itself make efforts and make good use of international aid and resources. They need to be national mechanisms for oversight and evaluation of implementation to improve the ability to recover.”
The Prime Minister also expressed Vietnam’s determination to contribute to global climate action by reducing emission by 9% with domestic resources or 27% with bilateral and multilateral support as compared to business as usual, by increasing the share of renewables in the total primary energy supply to 20% by 2030 and 30% by 2045, and by reducing emissions intensity per GDP by nearly 15%, and methane emissions from agricultural production by 10%.
