#Case study: Vietnam by Hoang Van Tam, Head of Climate Change Division, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam
The controversy of climate change has been debated in this country. The adaptation and mitigation issues are difficult to decouple in the context of development progress in Vietnam. My colleagues from Ministry of Planning and Investment found out about the 2050 Calculator by chance by attending a workshop in 2012 in Manila, Philippines where I learnt about the tool. So, while visiting the UK in the middle 2013, I got detailed information about the 2050 Calculator from DECC’s experts and more understanding about the application of the tool. I decided to set up a local team to develop the Vietnam 2050 Calculator with the help of DECC’s colleagues.
Most of the difficulty in building the national team was in selecting the Excel expert, co-ordinator and team leader. I understood that the Excel expert has to be not only good at Excel or information technology, but must also have good knowledge of the energy system. And the team leader has to have a wide understanding of energy and also a lot of experience of climate change issues. The co-ordinator is a very important role for the project’s progress, as they have to have good relationship with team members and officials in the line ministries. So, fortunately with my experiences of project management, I found them and am very happy with my selection because they addressed all my requirements.
For other team members, I selected them based on the suggestions of the various line ministries, who knew the appropriate sector experts and could introduce them to me.
I have been the climate change focal point for the Ministry of Industry and Trade for many years, and so it was easy for me to communicate with line ministries and experts. Actually, most of representatives from ministries and experts have been working recently on climate change and green growth issues, and were very open to sharing, exchanging ideas and working together. This may be one of reason for facilitating the progress of the project and its successful outputs.
Beside the Vietnamese team's efforts, the most important thing was the strong support from DECC and the flexibility of co-operation from the British Embassy in Hanoi during the project implementation.
- Contact Hoang Van Tam by email: [email protected]
- Visit the Vietnam 2050 Pathways Calculator