Financing Vietnam's Response to Climate Change

Abstract

The Government of Vietnam (GoV) has conducted a Climate Public Expenditure and Investment Review (CPEIR) with the support of the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The review examined Vietnam’s policies and climate change expenditure for the period 2010–2013 from five ministries (MONRE, MOIT, MARD, MOC, and MOT) and three provinces (Bac Ninh, Quang Nam and An Giang). To assess the public expenditure and improve alignment with policy goals and targets, a Typology of Climate Change Response Expenditures (TCCRE) was developed. This typology was used to classify the government’s spending on its climate change response into three pillars: (i) Policy and Governance (PG), (ii) Scientific, Technological and Societal Capacity (ST), and (iii) Climate Change Delivery (CCD). The typology also examined how expenditure within each pillar and in each sector is relevant to Vietnam’s climate change response (CC-response). Since roughly 70 percent of the total investment spending is allocated at the provincial level, the analysis does not represent the totality of Vietnam’s CC-response, but still offers substantive insight into spending, in particular through a comprehensive focus on the five key line ministries. Based on its findings, the CPEIR proposes solutions for how to accelerate Vietnam’s CC-response through the state budget and informs decision makers on readiness for scaling up the CC-response while increasing coherence across sectors’ and provinces’ policies. The CPEIR report is released at an opportune time, allowing the review’s recommendations to inform the formulation and implementation of the SEDP 2016–2020, and enabling/ promoting the GoV’s post-2015 climate change and green growth response program.