Viet Nam: Potential Economic Benefits from Implementing The NDC
Published on 07 September 2021
Key findings
As countries inject billions of dollars into their economy through their COVID-19 recovery packages over the next few years, it is essential that countries do not backpedal on their commitment to act on climate change. Making clear interlinkages between country’s climate commitments through their NDCs and the positive gains these may generate from a socio-economic perspective can help make the case for including these measures in recovery packages.
By applying the Green Recovery Benefits Assessment Decision Support Tool, climate experts, policymakers and civil society may use the assessment results to engage in a discussion on the additional benefits and gains that NDCs and its measures may generate that go beyond a country’s climate objectives. It can enable potential entry points to discuss challenges and gaps and configure policy designs to address them; it can highlight measures to policymakers and public that can be a double win — good for the climate and for the economy.
About the data
The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) — country national plans by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change – can be a natural entry point to address both the COVID-19 crisis and the climate crisis. Several measures included in country NDCs, such as energy efficiency, renewables, nature-based solutions and others, potentially deliver socio-economic benefits as well such as economic growth, job creation, reduced air pollution, public health benefits and enhanced energy security and access.
A key challenge for climate policymakers is to advocate and make a strong case for continued and prioritized climate action through their NDCs and a natural way to make this case is to demonstrate the range of green recovery benefits NDC measures may offer.
Since 2019, UNDP has been working with countries through its Climate Promise initiative to help countries adjust and adapt NDC design and implementation in an inclusive and integrated manner. As part of the Climate Promise support, early NDC submissions in the Asia-Pacific region were analyzed to provide entry points for economic recovery packages for continued climate action. The NDC submitted by Viet Nam in July 2020 was used as a case study, applying the Green Recovery Benefits Assessment Support Tool.