Hai Phong National Assembly Delegate: Environment is the key factor, not growth rate

Delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son, Committee on Science , Technology and Environment of the National Assembly, National Assembly Delegation of Hai Phong city spoke at the hall on the morning of October 28. Photo: National Assembly

On the morning of October 28, delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son, the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, and the National Assembly Delegation of Hai Phong city spoke at a discussion session in the hall on the results of thematic supervision of the implementation of policies and laws on environmental protection since the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 took effect.

Do not trade the environment for development at all costs

Delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son affirmed that the National Assembly's choice to have supreme supervision over this content and spend time discussing it at the last session of the term has many strategic meanings in terms of politics , legislation and sustainable development.

Basically agreeing with the contents, delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son said that this affirms the pivotal role of the environment in national development, sending a strong message of "not trading the environment for development at all costs" to the new term.

"Achieving the double-digit growth target from 2026 will put great pressure on the environment, because high growth requires increased exploitation of resources, energy, industrial production, logistics, and infrastructure construction. If not tightly controlled, it will cause pollution outbreaks, ecosystem degradation, public health crises, and increased remediation costs," delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son emphasized.

Delegates affirmed that the environment is an irreplaceable fundamental factor, the key factor determining sustainability, not growth rate.

A country can increase its GDP rapidly in 5-10 years, but if it is accompanied by declining air quality, river and lake pollution, deforestation, land degradation, soaring healthcare costs, natural disasters, biodiversity loss, etc., the price to pay will eliminate the growth achievements and push society into a spiral of "developing, destroying, and then putting out the fire".

In addition, the environment is the foundation for attracting high-quality investment without causing long-term destruction. A green economy with a good living environment will be a competitive advantage in the new era. Socio-economic development cannot be sustainable if the environment continues to be considered as a “post-check”, “following”, or “risk block”.

High quality investment only comes where there are good environmental standards.

Delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son pointed out the current situation of the environment not receiving adequate investment.

"The budget expenditure ratio for environmental causes in many localities is low, not enough for monitoring, waste treatment, communication, inspection, and lacks public investment policies for inter-regional waste treatment infrastructure, automatic monitoring, and environmental warning systems," said delegate Son.

Along with that, the institutionalization of the three pillars of environment, economy and society is not synchronous. Environmental economic tools are slow to develop. Environmental taxes are mainly collected from gasoline and oil, not reinvested effectively, discharge fees have not been collected substantially (especially for wastewater, emissions, solid waste), carbon credits, DPP, circular economy... are still at the policy level, lacking implementation.

Therefore, delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son suggested that the Government should continue to analyze and evaluate this issue thoroughly. Only when the environment is considered a true pillar can we attach the responsibility for environmental protection to public investment, private investment, and integrate the environment into planning, bidding, budgeting, and growth targets...

Reality has shown that high-quality FDI only comes to places with clear environmental standards such as Apple, Samsung, Lego, Nike, Panasonic... all of which put sustainability and responsibility for the environment, society of enterprises and carbon emissions as prerequisites. Without clear and consistent environmental standards, Vietnam will be eliminated from the global green supply chain, even with cheap labor costs.

To continue perfecting the draft resolution on thematic supervision, delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son proposed to continue institutionalizing the principle that the environment is a mandatory pillar in the three pillars of sustainable development, focusing on developing the environmental industry as an independent economic sector; implementing circular economy to change production and consumption models; integrating the environment into planning, public investment, applying financial tools and environmental economics; building a national system of data, monitoring, and environmental indicators; connecting environmental policies with integration and green investment.

In particular, increase public investment and budget expenditure for the environment, stipulate a minimum rate of 1% of total state budget expenditure for environmental causes, with public monitoring.

Delegates proposed allocating medium-term public investment capital for inter-provincial waste treatment projects, carbon credit floors, automatic monitoring, considering the formation of a national green environment investment fund, preferential loans, and credit guarantees for environmental enterprises.

Delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son also proposed solutions to build a system of environmental economic tools, linking the environment with innovation and digital transformation; at the same time, creating "market pressure" from international integration.

SNOW AND WIND

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-hai-phong-moi-truong-la-yeu-to-then-chot-chu-khong-phai-toc-do-tang-truong-524868.html