Mr. Bui Khanh Dung, Director of Musa Pacta Co., Ltd., has spent many years pursuing the "closed-loop - circulating - waste-free" production model. It is not only a way of doing business but also an option for sustainable development.
However, despite spending a lot of effort, time and money, his business still cannot easily access preferential capital sources. The reason is that there is no green certificate for the production process and products. Lacking that "passport", the path to accessing green credit still faces many barriers.
This is not Musa Pacta's private story. In the Mekong Delta, many farmers, cooperatives and businesses participating in the Project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice are also waiting for capital to invest in seeds, materials, mechanization and reorganize the production chain. To develop green agriculture, large and long-term capital flows are indispensable for the entire linkage chain from production to consumption.
In the context of Vietnam aiming for high growth, credit continues to be one of the most important resources of the economy. But what needs to be concerned is not only how much credit growth, but where the capital flow is led.
If we want rapid and sustainable growth, capital must be prioritized for production and business, technological innovation, circular economy, green economy and emission reduction projects. This is also an inevitable development trend as Vietnam is aiming for a net zero emissions target by 2050.
However, one of the major bottlenecks today is that the legal framework for green credit is still incomplete. The criteria for identifying green projects, circular projects or ESG standards - a set of sustainable development measurement standards - are still not synchronized. This makes it difficult for banks to assess and manage risks, and for businesses to prove to access capital and support policies.
In other words, many businesses are striving to follow the green path but have not yet been recognized as green.
To unlock this capital flow, it is necessary to soon complete regulations on green projects, circular economy and the ESG standard framework as a basis for interest rate support policies and investment incentives. At the same time, build a public database on business environmental information to increase transparency and reduce verification costs for credit institutions.
In the long term, it is necessary to promote a testing mechanism (sandbox) for circular economic models, develop green bond markets and carbon markets to create more medium and long-term capital mobilization channels for businesses.
Double-digit growth cannot only be based on pumping in more credit. More importantly, it is necessary to bring capital flows into the right areas that create sustainable added value.
When green credit is unlocked, not only businesses have more opportunities to expand production but also create motivation for millions of farmers and cooperatives to transform their development models. That is also a way for the economy to grow faster and more sustainably.
