Upcoming forum: “Connecting Green Credit - Green Industrial Park”

Developing green industrial parks is a strategic and urgent step for Vietnam to respond to environmental challenges, improve competitiveness and attract high-quality investment. This process is costly and requires long-term investment, so the support of green credit throughout the project period is extremely important. To clarify these issues, on May 9, 2025, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Region 9 and Banking Times organized a forum: "Connecting Green Credit - Green Industrial Parks".

The forum, attended by more than 100 delegates, including representatives of the State Bank of Vietnam, representatives of the People's Council, People's Committee, departments, branches and sectors; international and domestic experts; representatives of credit institutions, industrial parks... will be held on May 9, 2025, in Da Nang .

After more than two decades of promoting investment attraction, Vietnam now has more than 400 industrial parks in operation, contributing about 50% of industrial production value and 70% of export turnover. However, the rapid development of industrial parks has put great pressure on the environment, especially in the treatment of wastewater, exhaust gas and solid waste.

As one of the important growth drivers, traditional industrial parks and export processing zones are now facing an urgent need to transform into a green model. This is not only a step to respond to the global trend of sustainable development, but also the key for localities to improve their competitiveness, attract high-quality investment capital and shape the industrial future in the new era.

Therefore, in recent years, the green industrial park model has begun to be applied by many investors, especially foreign-invested enterprises. Of the 290 industrial parks operating in Vietnam, about 1-2% of them are taking steps to become ecological/green industrial parks. This number continues to increase.

In Da Nang alone, there are currently 6 industrial parks with a total area of about 1,100 hectares. Da Nang is on the way to building green growth in industrial parks, piloting the conversion into ecological industrial parks. With the goal of having 2-3 ecological industrial parks according to national standards by 2030, many enterprises in industrial parks have now converted to green, circular economic models, improved management and operation processes, innovated production technology to reduce sources of pollution, and implemented industrial symbiosis...

However, building a green industrial park requires significant investments in synchronous infrastructure, environmentally friendly transportation systems, the use of renewable energy, advanced waste treatment, collection and recycling solutions, and green management and operation programs. These are strategic investments with long-term visions, posing many financial challenges for pioneering enterprises.

In order to support industrial parks in the greening process, in recent times, with the role of the "bloodline" of the economy, the State Bank has issued a series of policies and guiding documents to strongly encourage the development of green credit. Under the direction of the State Bank, from only 15 credit institutions participating in 2017, up to now, 50 units have generated outstanding loans, the average growth rate of outstanding green credit in the period of 2017-2024 reached over 22%/year, higher than the growth rate of outstanding credit in general for the economy, thereby actively promoting green credit so that industrial parks have more resources to improve, innovate technology, and transform into sustainable green production.

However, the ratio of green credit to total outstanding credit is only about 4.6%, showing that green credit in Vietnam is still modest compared to its potential. Promoting green credit to support the formation and expansion of green industrial zones still faces many challenges.

To better understand this issue and find solutions in the coming time, managers, experts, representatives of credit institutions, industrial parks... attending the forum "Connecting Green Credit - Green Industrial Parks" will discuss some main contents such as:

• Evaluate the current implementation of green industrial park models, pointing out successes and challenges.
• Objective and comprehensive assessment of the implementation of green credit for green industrial parks in Vietnam in recent times, identifying bottlenecks and issues that need to be resolved.
• International experience and feasible solutions to develop green industrial zones, promote green credit to contribute to the country's industrialization and modernization in a sustainable direction.

The forum will be a place to gather enthusiastic opinions, create a forum for exchange between management agencies, experts, policy researchers, and businesses, thereby having different perspectives on the implementation of green credit activities in the banking industry, the application of mechanisms and policies in practice. These will be contributions and suggestions for management agencies in planning policy mechanisms, as well as the implementation of green credit activities in practice by credit institutions, creating motivation to open up credit capital flows in the banking industry for green goals and sustainable development.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/sap-dien-ra-dien-dan-ket-noi-tin-dung-xanh-khu-cong-nghiep-xanh-163841.html