Speaker: Sitara Syed, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative
Date: Thursday, 26 September 2019
Location: Pullman Hotel, 61 Giang Vo
Host: Institute of Green Urban Development, MOC
Event: Viet Nam Green Building Week 2019, Green High-rise Residential Buildings

Representatives from Ministries and Colleagues
Mr. Jonas Grunder, Deputy Head of Cooperation, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of Switzerland
Representatives from agencies, institutions and enterprises in buildings sectors;
Ladies and gentlemen;

I am very pleased to be here today to discuss the market development for green high-rise residential building in Viet Nam and be part of the Viet Nam Green Building Week 2019.

Viet Nam’s social– economic development and increasing urbanization over the past years (at about 38.4% in 2018 and expected to be 40% in 2019-2020) has led to significant growth of high-rise buildings especially residential buildings in major cities.

We know that, buildings and construction sectors account for 36% of global final energy use, and about 39% of total GHG emissions worldwide. These shares are growing rapidly, especially in the developing countries, where the urban building stock is expected to more than double by 2030.

UN Secretary General at the climate action submit earlier this week called for six transformative and impactful actions for reducing greenhouse gas by 45% by 2030 and to net zero emissions by 2050- and low-emission buildings was one of them.

The construction sector in Viet Nam has already made several important steps toward enabling development of more energy efficient and green building nationwide over the past years. The Ministry of Construction also adopted its sectoral Green Growth Action Plan and the updated building energy efficiency code in 2017.

Ladies and Gentlemen
Best practices in green buildings have showcased great opportunities for cost-effective emissions reductions. The EECB project’s work with the two high-rise residential buildings that demonstrate the energy saving of 24% and 36% equivalent to 6.6 billion VND/year and 2.9 billion VND/year respectively compared to business as usual. There is a lot of potentials.

Residential buildings however still accounted for a small portion among 76 certified green buildings, representing only 5% of LOTUS and 8% of LEED certified buildings by the end of 2018 in Viet Nam.  A lot of room for further improvement.

While energy efficiency and green aspects are now becoming a marketing advantage within a very competitive market for the mid and high-end segment, the challenges exist in overall market and enforcement of the building code. Technical capacity of the building developers, architects as well as low awareness and demand among the general public on green and energy efficient buildings are also barriers to developing a market for green buildings.

UNDP has been working on energy efficiency in building with governmental and relevant stakeholders from more than 40 countries worldwide. We are committed to bringing in relevant international experience and best practices to accelerate the development of green building sector in Viet Nam.

We are proud to have been working in the partnership with the Ministry of Construction, building owners and developers to address these challenges through the project “Energy Efficiency Improvement in Commercial and High-Rise Residential Buildings in Viet Nam”. Some of the tools that will be developed by the project include Specific Energy Consumption profiles and related energy consumption benchmarks for 5 typologies of buildings nationwide and technical standards related to energy efficient materials.

Ladies and Gentlemen
Transforming the market for green buildings requires combined and coordinated efforts by all relevant stakeholders including governments, building developers, building investors, service providers and end-users. I am very happy to see representatives from so many partners here today.

I look forward to fruitful discussions and wish you all good health and success.

Thank you! Xin cam on!

Apart from the energy cost saving, reducing GHG emission, it is also proved that green buildings provide good living environment, reduced health problem for the tenants as well as reduced the operation and maintenance cost and increased building life.