From 23 to 25 August, the Department of Environment under the Ministry of Transport (MOT) and GIZ, within the framework of the Vietnam component of the NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA), co-chaired the three-day training on “Greenhouse Gas Inventory in Transport”. The training was co-organised by the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Participants of the workshop included 14 key government officials from MOT (including the Department of Environment, the Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam, Viet Nam Register, Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam, Viet Nam Inland Waterways Administration, Viet Nam Maritime Administration, Viet Nam Railway Authority), and 20 officials from Departments of Transport (DOT) from cities and provinces in the North, Central, and South, as well as representatives from two institutes under MOT.

During the first two days, participants were provided with knowledge on the GHG inventory process, approaches, and calculation methodologies for GHG emissions in transport. Participants had the opportunity to practice estimating GHG emissions from the transport sector, understand data requirements, and quality control as well as the uncertainty assessment, based on the methodological approaches of the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines. On the third day, the participants were instructed to practice conducting GHG inventory using the TrIGGER (Transport Inventory and Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting) Tool.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Tran Anh Duong, Vice Director General of the Department of Environment under the Ministry of Transport (MOT) appreciated the support from the NDC-TIA project and emphasized: “The training program on GHG inventory in transport is extremely necessary for our officials to gain basic knowledge on how to conduct a GHG inventory from grassroots to the central level so that the report on the transport sector inventory can be prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Our information will be crucial to develop the Biennial Update Report of Viet Nam in accordance with the regulations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)”.

The UNFCCC Secretariat specifically assigned Mr. Stanford Mwakasonda, a GHG inventory expert, as the lead trainer for this training. Throughout the workshop, the trainees were able to get an overview of the needs, processes and methods of implementing the GHG inventory in transport. The workshop was very well received by the participants, who wished to have the opportunity to participate in similar training courses with UNFCCC in the future.