25 November 2023

With an export-oriented economy like Vietnam, the green transformation of businesses is considered inevitable and vital.

This is the sharing of Ms. Le Viet Nga - Deputy Director of the Domestic Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) at the Forum "Developing cooperative economic models, promoting sustainable agriculture" organized by Business Magazine on the morning of 24/11.

Green transformation is considered inevitable and vital

According to Ms. Le Viet Nga, green production, green export, green consumption ... has become a global development trend as a positive solution to reduce greenhouse emissions, improve the resilience and creativity of the economy. This trend is shaping new standards on environment and sustainable development set by import markets and importers.

In Vietnam's main export markets such as the United States, Europe, China, Japan, Korea ... Consumers increasingly tend to care about environmental protection besides product quality and price.

In these developed countries, green development programs have been implemented, the legal framework for importing goods of countries must ensure green production.

"A typical example is the European market (EU) - a region that is known as a potential market but very fastidious, tends to shift very strongly to green and clean consumption, requiring to meet the requirements of animal and plant quarantine, rules of traceability,  environmental protection standards, food hygiene and safety standards and packaging and transportation processes", Ms. Le Viet Nga shared.

Ms. Le Viet Nga cited the very strict requirements of the European market (EU) that have recently been updated and widely disseminated to the business community in Vietnam such as Instruction 79/117/EEC of the European Commission (EC), the allowed residue of pesticides on products imported into the EU is very low, almost zero.

If the EU detects any residual banned substance in the sample of the imported product, the shipment will be rejected and destroyed, the supplier (exporter) will bear the full cost of destruction, may even be prosecuted and imposed a ban on the export of that product into the EU while waiting for the EU competent authority to proceed conduct investigations and disposals.

A new policy also mentioned by Ms. Le Viet Nga is the Non-Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) adopted by the EC on May 16, 2023. Accordingly, it prohibits the import of agricultural products whose processes are produced on land derived from deforestation and cause forest degradation, including items raised or produced with such products such as leather, chocolate, printing paper, furniture, charcoal and some palm oil derivatives.

The requirements for exporters to comply with the European Green Deal statutes, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) force importers into the EU to report carbon emissions in goods.

The Law on Supply Chain Appraisal obliges companies to strictly manage environmental impacts in both production and business. These are major challenges to enjoy incentives from the EVFTA in addition to basic conditions such as rules of origin and quality standards.

In addition to the standards set by the State, European distribution systems (wholesale, retail) also set their own purchasing policies or standards to prioritize the distribution of environmentally friendly products.

Ms. Le Viet Nga said that with an export-oriented economy like Vietnam, the green transformation of businesses is considered inevitable and vital. It can be seen that sustainable agricultural development is no longer a matter of encouragement, but has become a mandatory requirement of many export markets.

"Therefore, if Vietnam wants to take advantage of opportunities from free trade agreements to increase the export turnover of agricultural products to high-demand markets such as the EU, it is impossible not to pay attention to solutions to promote sustainable agricultural development."  Nga added.

Need total solutions

Not only in the export market, for the domestic market, Ms. Le Viet Nga said that in the last 15 years, the trend of consuming green, environmentally friendly products, protecting consumers' health has increasingly received the attention of society.

According to a 2023 NielsenIQ survey, over time, consumers increasingly value sustainability and eco-friendliness when shopping with 55% of those surveyed considering it very important and 37% considering it important.

Facing the above situation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has piloted models and goods distributed in modern systems that are always coordinated by enterprises with suppliers, including cooperative alliances, cooperatives, farmer households to make efforts to control to ensure that the criteria of documents are met, etc

Production and cultivation processes, especially agricultural products, are checked for food safety to ensure quality before reaching consumers.  Along with the development of supermarket chains, modern channels, traditional markets have also gradually changed and upgraded to match the development trend. In recent years, 63/63 provinces and cities have built and replicated the pilot model of food trading markets.

Up to now, there have been nearly 200 pilot market models across the country to ensure food safety. The food safety market criteria have been approved by the Prime Minister as one of the criteria for recognition of newly enhanced rural communes under the National Target Program on New Rural Areas for the period 2021-2025.

In order to develop sustainable agricultural products in Vietnam, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that it is developing and connecting the system of agricultural wholesale markets into logistics hubs, general services and input supply for agricultural production; Capacity building for organizations and individuals in traceability and labeling of origin of food products; Enhance e-commerce activities, promote and connect food consumption markets along the value chain with e-commerce channels, social networks...

However, the representative of the Department of Domestic Market also said that comprehensive solutions are needed to improve the legal system and mechanisms to promote sustainable development, including sustainable development of agriculture; implement energy management, greenhouse gas reduction, management of food safety standards by applying a production model according to standardized green standards; promote the formation of value chains and sustainable product value chains, from production to procurement - processing - preservation - consumption according to standards set by the market.

"In particular, it is necessary to emphasize the important role of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance and cooperatives contributing to the goal of building a green economy and a prosperous Vietnam", Ms. Le Viet Nga emphasized.

Source: congthuong.vn