Global Environment Fund Grants $7M to Help Vietnam Manage PCB

The Global Environment Fund, through the World Bank, has granted $7 million to a project to help Vietnam manage Polyclobyphenyl (PCB), a persistent organic pollutant, state media reported April 1. The Vietnamese government and the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) Wednesday started the project totaling $17.5 million in Hanoi, which is aimed to map out a plan to manage PCB in Vietnam and reserve a large amount of PCB in the localities to destroy in the future. The government of Vietnam has contributed $10.5 million of reciprocal capital to the project that will be implemented in Hanoi, Haiphong, Danang, Ho Chi Minh and Can Tho cities and Hai Duong, Nam Dinh, Quang Ninh, Vung Tau, Dong Nai and Lam Dong provinces. In line with commitment to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, Vietnam pledges to phase out the use of PCBs in 2020 and conduct the safe destruction of the substance by 2028.