Green transformation is a mandatory requirement
At the Workshop "Green transformation businesses and solutions to promote sustainable green financial access", held on September 30 in Can Tho City, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu - Vice President of the Can Tho City Union of Science and Technology Associations - emphasized that in the context of deep integration into the global supply chain, green transformation is no longer an option but a mandatory requirement.
Key export markets and international partners are increasingly applying strict environmental standards, from ESG criteria to carbon border regulation mechanisms. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises in general and Mekong Delta enterprises in particular to increase their competitive advantage and build strong trust with customers. Green transformation is the roadmap for businesses to affirm their sustainable values.
Ms. Vo Thi Thu Huong - Deputy Director of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Mekong Delta branch - said that in recent years, many important legal documents and policies have been issued, creating a foundation for green economic development. A typical example is Decision No. 287/QD-TTg approving the Mekong Delta Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, along with important resolutions issued by the Party until 2025, which clearly oriented the green economic transformation process.
Notably, after the international integration process, Vietnamese enterprises have accumulated a lot of experience in meeting market standards. The presence of multinational corporations in the domestic market also helps Vietnamese enterprises experience and practice international competitiveness, creating an important foundation for the transition to a green economy. Therefore, the requirement of switching to a green economy is also a content that businesses can quickly grasp and be ready to transform.
Removing green financial bottlenecks
According to Ms. Vo Thi Thu Huong, the Mekong Delta is an vivid example of reflecting both the difficulties and opportunities of Vietnam in the green transformation journey. The difficulties are that the economy of this region depends heavily on resources and unskilled labor, but it also opens up great opportunities if it can take advantage of agriculture, renewable energy and a sustainable export market.
A quick survey of 150 VCCI Mekong Delta member enterprises in 2025 shows that the need for green economic transformation of enterprises does not stop at financial access. Specifically, 47.5% of enterprises lack investment capital for green technology, 43.6% lack specialized human resources, and 46.5% have not received appropriate policy support from local authorities.
On the contrary, when asked about their wishes, 61.3% of businesses prioritized access to capital, 54.7% expected support for human resource training, and 42.5% wanted to connect with experts. These figures show that finance is only a component and the green transformation process needs a comprehensive ecosystem, including capital, human resources and professional consulting services.
Faced with the advantages and challenges that businesses face in the green transformation process, VCCI Mekong Delta branch believes that important resolutions issued in 2025 will create a new, drastic and synchronous policy framework, promising to promote the green economic development process to take place faster and more smoothly.
What is necessary now is to put those policies into practice through specific documents and reform administrative procedures, helping new business plans of businesses and research and innovation funds of businesses to access capital and green financial incentives more easily, as well as creating a legal foundation for banks and investment funds to operate faster.
