Climate justice in Vietnam’s green transformation: A three-dimensional analysis of the green growth and climate change mitigation sectors

Abstract

The ongoing international efforts in climate change mitigation - which includes reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) and increasing carbon sinks - are highly consequential to the long-term socio-economic stability of Vietnam. Vietnam has been making great strides in promoting a low-carbon development pathway to ensure high growth rates, environmental protection, and fulfilment of international climate change commitments. These efforts are concretised in the form of a green transformation policy framework of which the most important components are the National Green Growth Strategy for the period 2021-2030 and the National Climate Change Strategy for the period up to 2050. As these policies employ an integrated approach that aim to achieve economic growth and climate change mitigation simultaneously, there is a possibility that the social pillar of sustainable development may be neglected, potentially leading to issues with equity and fairness in planning and implementing concrete missions and tasks. This article seeks to determine whether this is the case by assessing how three dimensions of climate justice -namely recognition justice, procedural justice and distributive justice - are reflected in the Green Growth and Climate Change Strategies.