There needs to be a set of criteria to identify green fields and projects to remove bottleneck for green capital

Mr. Do Ngoc Quynh, General Secretary of the Vietnam Bond Market Association (VBMA)

How do you evaluate the application of ESG in the banking and finance sector today?

Environment Society and Governance (ESG) is a global trend and Vietnam is a member of that environment. This can be considered a “language” that is increasingly popular and becomes mandatory in the development of economic activities in general and financial activities in particular. Therefore, the application of ESG standards in economic development in general and in financial activities in particular is a strategic activity.

This requires not only businesses and financial institutions but also governments to be proactive and build appropriate strategies to stay ahead of this trend. In particular, both taking advantages and opportunities from ESG and proactively responding to challenges from policies and requirements on ESG standards will be set.

Currently, ESG is still a new concept. What recommendations do you have to develop ESG more strongly in the banking sector?

Not only in Vietnam but in many countries around the world, specific contents and components of ESG such as environmental issues, social responsibility or governance continue to be formed and developed, perfecting standard systems.

ESG is a system of development standards that governments, businesses and financial institutions which need to comply and apply during the implementation of their socio-economic and business development activities.

ESG is not simply a destination but a journey and not only Vietnam but many countries around the world, different industries and fields are also continuously improving standards towards environmental protection and creating a more sustainable environment.

Therefore, the implementation of ESG standards in the past and in the future has and will continue to require changes and adjustments that organizations in general and banking and financial institutions in particular need to continuously follow to proactively adjust their operating policies accordingly.

In implementing ESG, in addition to the initiative of financial institutions in particular and organizations in general in the market, recently a number of countries around the world have begun to have mandatory policies such as tax policies or technical measures to influence the behavior and development strategies of organizations in the market. Thereby directing the actions of organizations in general and financial institutions in particular towards activities that meet ESG standards.

What problems are businesses currently facing in accessing green capital? What solutions do you propose to overcome these problems?

Green finance is about financial activities aimed at green development and environmental protection. So what is green, what is sustainable development and environmental protection? This requires standards and specific criteria.

Recently, Vietnam has issued many policies, such as the Law on Environmental Protection, strategies on sustainable development; the State Bank also has a green banking development strategy, green credit and green bond policies; the Ministry of Finance has a policy on green bonds; the State Securities Commission and the Stock Exchange have a set of indicators for sustainable business development... Thus, the regulations issued by Vietnam are quite adequate, but still lack a set of criteria for green fields.

That criteria system must be associated with specific incentive policies related to tax incentives and administrative procedures, policy mechanisms to support businesses and organizations in the market in implementing green projects. Because financial institutions and businesses are all business units, in addition to the spirit of volunteerism in implementing green development activities, these units must also ensure profits to continue to maintain operations and contribute to sustainable national and global development.

Therefore, developing green projects requires very clear and specific calculations in terms of efficiency. Besides environmental efficiency, society must also consider economic efficiency. If economic efficiency is not guaranteed, businesses and organizations certainly cannot implement activities to ensure environmental and social efficiency.

Currently, some countries have quite clear standards on green development to serve as a basis for determining which green fields and projects are encouraged to invest and develop. This system of green standards and criteria will be the basis to guide the capital flow of the financial market to the right address.

Thank you Sir!