07/22/2016

Viet Nam readies itself to deal with gridlock

People on motor bikes in the streets of Vietnam — Heavy traffic of two-wheeled motorcycles on the streets of Viet Nam. Photo: S. Morris/flickr (CC BY NC 2.0)

A new IKI project aims to devise strategies to reduce emissions in the transport sector.

In recent years, Viet Nam has experienced rapid economic growth. Between 2009 and 2015, GDP increased from USD 1,068 to around USD 2,000 per capita. Consequently, emissions in the transport sector have also shot up. According to data provided by the World Bank, they account for around 24% of the country’s energy-related emissions. The vast majority are generated by road traffic.

The World Health Organization’s 2013 Global status report on road safety states that over 33 million vehicles are registered in the South-East Asian country, including 31 million two or three-wheeled motorcycles and 1.2 million other vehicles such as buses, trucks and cars. The motorcycle remains Viet Nam’s most important form of passenger transport. In upcoming years it is expected that traffic and related emissions will continue to increase strongly if no countermeasures are taken. Promoting and improving public transport are therefore key objectives of Viet Nam’s Ministries of Transport and Natural Resources and Environment.

The recently launched project Advancing climate strategies in rapidly motorising countries will join forces with the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to develop climate change mitigation strategies with political support for the transport sector. The project is receiving EUR 2.5 million in funding from the German Federal Environment Ministry’s International Climate Initiative (IKI). The aim is to mitigate the increasing level of emissions on Viet Nam’s roads. In an initial step, emissions will be recorded systematically in order to find out where they can be reduced. The methodological approaches devised will be fed into initiatives of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat, such as the Compendium on GHG Baselines and Monitoring.
The project will be implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

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