Green transformation cannot just be a single policy
Speaking at the Workshop "Improving the efficiency of green credit capital flows, a driving force for economic growth" organized by Lao Dong Newspaper on June 23, Dr. Bui Thanh Minh - Deputy Professional Director of the Office of the Private Economic Development Research Board, Board IV said that in the past time, policy moves have been issued to support. Including the Draft Decree on interest rate support of 2%/year for businesses in the private economic sector. If this policy is issued in a timely manner, it will be an important institutionalization step.
According to Dr. Bui Thanh Minh, in the past time, many policy moves have been implemented to support businesses. However, small and medium-sized enterprises are always the group that spends a lot of time in discussions about how to access capital, especially credit capital, which is still very difficult. Looking at the data, it can be seen that nearly 80% of small and medium-sized enterprises have no history of accessing credit.
Second, green credit comes with specific requirements, even higher. How to make small and medium-sized enterprises access green credit is an even more difficult problem. Because to access green capital, businesses need to meet the standards to be granted green capital, from standardizing data, processes, management models to criteria to determine what is "green". To access green credit, businesses need to change business models, standardize processes, and build data. But to change, initial investment capital is needed.
Third, from 2022, when recognizing the movements of the international market related to CBAM and the requirements in the supply chain, Board IV proposed to the Prime Minister, recommending that green transformation is not a single policy but an ecosystem of many different policies. Including industrial policy, green fiscal policy, emission reduction policy, carbon credit market... All these policies must form a system to support businesses in transition.
According to Dr. Bui Thanh Minh, the growth rate of green credit has shown very positive signs. In fact, banks themselves also have a very large demand for green credit lending. Looking at ESG trends, sustainable development or green growth, it can be seen that the banking sector is one of the fastest moving sectors. Not only providing capital for the economy, banks themselves are also practicing ESG very well.
When reading assessment reports on ESG information disclosure and sustainable development policies of the banking system, I see this as a very rapid transformation to meet the new context. However, when asked if businesses need to access green capital, the answer is yes. But when asked whether they have accessed it, it is a different story," Dr. Bui Thanh Minh shared.
Green transformation cannot be successful without the "midwife" role of the State
According to Dr. Bui Thanh Minh, if banks want to lend, the State Bank is also very determined to promote a greener economy. Businesses also face pressure to transform green if they do not want to be eliminated from the supply chain and lose markets. After a period of development, they also want to standardize their operations. However, to do that, they need motivation and support with the role of "midwife" from the State. The problem is that current supply and demand have not yet met. Why have they not met, we need to answer clearly.
Dr. Bui Thanh Minh emphasized that what is worrying now is not the lack of policies but how policies are implemented effectively, helping businesses to truly access credit capital. Here, it is also necessary to clarify the responsibility of the State, instead of placing all responsibility on the shoulders of commercial banks. Because commercial banks still operate according to market and profit principles. Therefore, the State needs to use budget resources to subsidize interest rates, creating conditions for businesses to access the 2% support level.
In addition to green transformation, this platform needs to be linked to digital transformation. If there is an intermediary agency to digitize all data related to green transformation and connect with the banking system, access to capital will be much more convenient. Businesses only need to enter information and geographical coordinates to look up data on electricity, water, emissions... Thereby gradually completing data to serve green credit assessment. When there are complete data, banks can completely rely on it to make lending decisions. This both reduces capital costs for businesses and creates a mechanism for sharing responsibilities and benefits between parties in the ecosystem. If we cannot do this, we will continue to face difficulties in connecting the supply side and the demand side of green capital," Dr. Bui Thanh Minh shared.
Representatives of Board IV emphasized that currently there is no need to issue too many new policies. The most important thing is how to ensure that existing policies are effectively implemented and transformed into language that businesses can understand and access.
