Vietnam May Earn $100M from Selling Certified Emission Reductions Annually

Vietnam expects to earn between $80 million and $100 million annually from the United Nations-funded Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) program. The sum would triple the annual official development assistance (ODA) for its forestry sector if Vietnam begins implementing REDD+ nationwide from 2016. However, Vietnam may face challenges in applying REDD+ because all afforestation projects are costly and time-consuming. The country may see a decrease in area of natural forest that leads to obviation of native cultures in forestry regions, said Hoang Lien Son from Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences. Vietnam needs to improve people’s livelihood in REDD+ implementation, he noted. Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) is a carbon credit that is a generic term for any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide or the mass of another greenhouse gas with a carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide. Vietnam has roughly 13.86 million hectares of forest. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam – Vietnam Economic Times July 8 p12)