Page 80 - Ebook HTKH 2024

deployed in all fields, production and living behaviors have gradually changed
according to environmentally friendly principles.

With the goal of sustainable development in all three aspects: economic, social and
environmental, the implementation of green growth in Vietnam has achieved certain
results. To be proactive with the current unpredictable climate changes and overcome
the post-Covid-19 pandemic that has had a significant impact on the world economy in
general and Vietnam in particular. This is the time for countries to review their
development models and raise public awareness of serious environmental threats.
However, it still does not really meet the development needs of green finance and
towards the goal of sustainable development and green economic growth of the country.

During implementation, green growth policy still faces many challenges, such as
insufficient awareness of the importance of green growth, degradation of natural
resources, the legal system is not synchronized and technological capacity is limited.
Therefore, in order to support green economic growth in the near future, it is necessary
to analyze Vietnam's opportunities and challenges when it comes to implementing green
finance, as well as to provide some urgent policy recommendations and solutions for

sustainable development.
2. Overview of green finance, sustainable development and green economic
growth
Green finance is a term born in association with the development of green

economic trends in the world in recent years; Up to now, there is no accurate and unified
definition of green finance. Lindenberg (2014) believes that green finance is a general
concept that refers to financial investments in sustainable development projects and
initiatives, environmental products and policies that encourage more sustainable
economic development; and programs and projects for environmental purposes such as
controlling industrial emissions, reducing water pollution or protecting biodiversity. In
particular, mitigation finance and adaptation finance respond to climate change with

activities such as mitigation financial flows are investments in programs and projects
that contribute to reducing or avoiding emissions that cause the greenhouse effect, while
adaptation finance flows are investments that contribute to reducing the vulnerability of
people and goods to the effects of climate change. PwC1 (2013) determined that, for the
banking industry, green finance is understood as products and financial services that
consider environmental factors throughout the process, from lending decisions to post-

lending risk management and monitoring, aims to encourage environmentally
responsible investments and encourage low-carbon projects, industries, businesses and
technologies. The European Union (2021) believes that green finance is the mobilization
of capital to address environmental and climate issues, while improving financial risk
management related to climate and the environment. Besides, according to the United
Nations Environment Program, green finance is about increasing financial flows
(banking, microcredit, insurance and investment) from the public, private and non-profit

sectors to sustainable development priorities, to better manage social and
environmental risks,

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