Removing the "green" bottleneck for Vietnamese businesses

In fact, in 2024 alone, the European Union (EU) collected over €1.3 billion from experimental carbon taxes, and this figure is projected to increase fivefold when the CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) – an EU policy aimed at imposing carbon taxes on imported goods to ensure fair competition with domestically produced products and prevent carbon leaks – comes into operation in 2026.

This demonstrates that the "green barrier" has become a real bottleneck for Vietnamese goods. This impact is clearly reflected in the Vietnamese economy , where 97% of businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with limited financial and technological capacity. The rate of "greening" remains low and varies greatly between industries. In key export sectors such as textiles and footwear, only about 15% of businesses have environmental management systems; while in the plastics industry, only about 10% of businesses control waste to meet standards...

The agricultural and food sector is no exception. Only about 30% of processing facilities invest in energy-saving technologies or wastewater treatment for reuse; the majority still rely on raw materials that do not meet VietGAP/GlobalGAP standards, making it difficult to demonstrate low emissions. A 2024 survey published by the Private Economic Development Research Board (Board IV) of the Prime Minister 's Advisory Council on Administrative Procedure Reform, in collaboration with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and several business associations, involving nearly 3,000 businesses, shows that the biggest difficulty for businesses in green transformation today is a lack of capital and limited access to green credit.

Approximately 65% of businesses face obstacles in accessing preferential capital, while most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are unable to invest in clean technologies, energy-saving solutions, or emission control systems. Furthermore, nearly 47% of businesses lack specialized personnel in emission reduction. A lack of capital, manpower, and unified guidance keeps the rate of green transition among businesses low, while market pressure continues to increase.

At the policy level, Vietnam has issued the Green Growth Strategy for the period 2021-2030, established a green credit framework, and provided numerous tax incentives for clean technologies. However, the percentage of businesses that actually access and benefit from these policies remains modest. Without accelerating this transformation soon, Vietnamese businesses risk losing both export and domestic market share.

Currently, in the international market, orders are quickly shifting to suppliers that have standardized carbon data and achieved ESG (Environmental - Social - Governance) certification. This is a set of standards for evaluating the level of sustainability and social responsibility of a business, widely used by investors, financial institutions, regulatory agencies, and consumers worldwide. Domestically, the trend of sustainable consumption is becoming increasingly evident, with 62% of Vietnamese customers willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products and 85% of supermarkets having completely replaced plastic packaging with green materials.

To overcome this "bottleneck," we should pursue two approaches simultaneously: increasing the absorption rate of support policies and raising the proportion of "green" products in production. First, the green finance system should be "unlocked" through small-scale credit packages with preferential interest rates and simplified procedures to make them easily accessible to businesses; and a national, shared ESG data platform should be built. Alongside this, training carbon experts and establishing regional technical support networks are crucial to empower businesses to be more proactive in their green transition. The government should promote the procurement of green products for public investment projects, allocate budgets for environmentally friendly products, and standardize a "transparency passport" for exports with a unified set of criteria on traceability, materials, and emissions. When policies align with market needs, businesses will have the motivation to transform.

With coordinated and decisive action, Vietnam can transform green barriers into a new competitive advantage. This is not just an environmental issue, but a crucial strategy for Vietnamese products to thrive in the green economy trend.

AI VAN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/go-nut-that-xanh-cho-doanh-nghiep-viet-post820286.html