Technology is the "backbone" of sustainable development
On November 27, in Hanoi, Finance - Investment Newspaper organized a Sustainable Development Workshop 2025 with the theme "Driver for the Sustainable Era". The event gathered representatives of management agencies and leading enterprises to discuss solutions to realize sustainable development goals.
Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Tam emphasized that in the context of complex international relations, Vietnam is facing an urgent need for green growth.
"For Vietnam, this is both a challenge and an opportunity for us to promote growth model innovation, improve national competitiveness and affirm our position in the global value chain" - Deputy Minister Nguyen Duc Tam commented.
At the discussion session, the problems of cost and investment efficiency for technology were carefully analyzed by experts. Mr. Thai-Lai Pham - Chairman and General Director of Siemens ASEAN and Vietnam regions said that digital technology, especially Digital Twin, is a prerequisite factor.
"A building is always built twice. The first time is to build in a digital environment to optimize design and operation. The second time is to build physics based on that optimized design" - Mr. Thai-Lai Pham shared.
Responding to cost concerns, Siemens' leaders affirmed that the initial investment would be compensated quickly by saving energy and human resources: "Normally, the payback period takes only 1 to 4 years, while that infrastructure serves us for decades without incurring additional wasteful costs."
Pioneering enterprises take real action
Not stopping at theory, businesses in Vietnam are strongly applying green solutions to production and construction.
Mr. Lee Leong Seng - Director of Housing Real Estate Development, Keppel Vietnam - said that this enterprise is applying CO2 mineral concrete technology (CarbonCure) at a project in District 7 (HCMC).
"Instead of letting CO2 emitted into the environment, we recovered it and sealed it in Permanent concrete. This helps reduce emissions equivalent to planting about 19,000 trees within 10 years" - Mr. Lee Leong Seng cited.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Chu Van Phuong - General Director of Tien Phong Youth Plastic Joint Stock Company affirmed that the reputation of the current enterprise is closely linked to environmental commitments. This unit currently reuses 100% of the scrap generated in production, does not discharge solid waste into the environment and has achieved Singapore's "4 Green Tches" certification.
From a retail perspective, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hue - Senior Director of AEON Vietnam - emphasized the mission of changing consumer behavior. Ms. Hue said: "We implement a strategy of accompanying suppliers, supporting Vietnamese manufacturers to improve quality to Japanese standards to export to the global AEON system".
Unblocking international green capital flows
To realize the above goals, capital is a key factor. Mr. Trinh Ha - Strategy expert of Exness Investment Bank commented that renewable energy projects in Vietnam have a great opportunity to access cheap capital flows from abroad.
"Many international financial institutions have preferential lending packages with attractive interest rates, only about 4-5%. Vietnamese enterprises can completely increase investment efficiency if they know how to make good use of green capital sources through direct loans or issuing green bonds" - Mr. Trinh Ha analyzed.
Speakers agreed that the resonance between policies, technology and green capital will be the driving force to bring Vietnamese enterprises deeper into the era of sustainability.
