Page 39 - Ebook HTKH 2024

largely relies on the intensive use of natural resources. Industrialization based on a
“brown economy” model, characterized by low resource efficiency, high waste

generation, environmental pollution, outdated production technology, and heavy
reliance on imported raw materials, does not ensure sustainable economic development.
Therefore, under the current circumstances, it is necessary to develop the industrial
sector in a green direction to achieve sustainable development in Vietnam.
2. Green growth in Vietnam
Up to now, there have been many concepts of green growth proposed, but none
have been fully standardized. Among these, some of the concepts of green growth
include:

The World Bank (WB) defines green growth as being efficient in the use of natural
resources, minimizing pollution and environmental impacts, having the ability to adapt
to natural hazards, and emphasizing the role of environmental management and natural
capital in disaster prevention.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(UNESCAP) defines green growth as a strategy for achieving sustainable development.

Green growth advocates for GDP growth while maintaining or restoring the quality and
integrity of the ecological environment, and meeting the needs of everyone with minimal
environmental impact. It is a strategy that seeks to maximize economic output while
minimizing ecological burdens. This approach aims to harmonize economic growth and
environmental sustainability by promoting fundamental changes in society's production
and consumption patterns.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme's Green Growth

Initiative, green growth, or building a green economy, is the process of restructuring
economic activities and infrastructure to achieve better results from investments in
resources, human capital, and finance, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
extracting and using fewer natural resources, generating less waste, and reducing social
inequality.
The OECD (2011) defines green growth as promoting economic growth and

development while ensuring that natural asset resources continue to provide essential
environmental services for our lives. To achieve this, green growth must act as a catalyst
for investment and innovation, serving as a foundation for sustainable growth and
creating new economic opportunities.
In Vietnam, the “National Strategy on Green Growth for the 2021-2030 period,
with a vision towards 2050” provides specific perspectives on green growth as follows:
Green growth contributes to restructuring the economy in line with renewing the
growth model, enhancing competitiveness and resilience to external shocks, and

realizing the 2021-2030 socio-economic development strategy, national planning
systems, and sectoral development strategies.

31