Climate Change Ambassador of Canada Catherine Stewart. (Photo: VNA) Talkingto Vietnam News Agency during her recent visit to the Southeast Asian nation, Stewartsaid the two countries have over 50 years of diplomatic relations. Over the morethan 30 years of its development assistance, Canada has provided over 1.8 billionUSD in development assistance for Vietnam to help ease poverty andinequality, empower women and girls, and address climate change.
Canada reallywishes to continue the great cooperation with Vietnam, she said, noting that onereason for her presence in the country is to advance Canada’s Indo-PacificStrategy, which is a concerted effort by the Canadian Government to deepen theNorth American country’s relations in the region as well as cooperation withVietnam.
Affirming Canada’s commitment tosupporting and promoting sustainable development and resilience in the regionand Vietnam, the ambassador expressed her hope that both nations can remainactive globally on climate change and sustainable development.
She noted that adaptation is apriority of Canada, which is witnessing obvious impacts of climate change. She pointedout the need to build strong communities with better adaptation to impacts of thisglobal phenomenon, which may cost Vietnam 12 - 14% of its GDP by 2050.
“Wereally want to make sure that we are supporting communities in better beingable to respond to the effects of climate change and build communities so thatthey can thrive in generations to come. That is why adaptation is really a keypart of the Paris agreement,” she remarked.
Stewart went on to say that Canada hasmitigation and adaptation measures and is providing support for the mostvulnerable in the world.
She elaboratedthat as rising sea levels pose a very significant threat to Vietnam, includingits Mekong Delta, Canada will provide support to help Vietnam resolve this issue.
Through the Asian Development Bank (ADB),Canada has assisted Vietnam to carry out a project on integrated naturaldisaster risk management and establish an integrated disaster risk management fund to support the development for innovative approaches and tools tomanage disasters.It hopes to have more adaptation and resilience enhancement projects withVietnam, according to the Climate Change Ambassador.
Highlightingenergy transition as a highly important component of Canada’s climate finance,she voiced her country’s delight that at the 26th UN Climate ChangeConference (COP26), Vietnam made commitments to achieving the net zeroemissions target by 2050, eradicating deforestation by 2030, and phasing out coal-firedpower generation by 2040.
“Withthat commitment, we are very pleased that the international community, throughthe International Partners Group (IPG), was able to work with Vietnam indeveloping a just energy transition partnership,” she added. “I feel it is avery good example to the world of how a country with big needs to reduceemissions can work together on a plan to take that forward.”
Waste covers the Sa Huynh saltwater lagoon in Duc Pho town, Quang Ngai province. (Photo: VNA) Someof these projects will help Vietnam enhance its regulatory capacity,build capacity as well as analysis to push ahead with energy transition, Stewart continued.
The ambassador also said Canada is seeking partners for its “GlobalCarbon Pricing Challenge” initiative, which aims to promote thevalue of carbon pricing as a policy tool that can effectively drive downemissions, promote innovation, and improve energy efficiency and affordability. It looks forward to Vietnam joining the initiative soon.
She notedthe other opportunity within the Global Carbon Pricing Challenge is to providetechnical support and help countries build the capacity and technical abilityto be able to manage carbon pricing. Canada is looking forward to offering thattechnical support to Vietnam but also to other countries that are interested inimplementing their own carbon pricing systems.
“Thereis a lot of experience and knowledge out there and opportunities to be sharinglessons learned and best practices on carbon pricing. This is an area where wesee Vietnam playing a big leadership role, having implemented emissions tradingsystem and a leadership role also within ASEAN, which is why Canada’s PrimeMinister Trudeau is very keen to see Vietnam join the partnership and he hasreached out on this front already. So we look forward to working with Vietnamon that,” Stewart said./.
VNA
