A critical review on Energy Efficiency and Conservation policies and programs in Vietnam

Due to the rapid population growth and economic development, energy demand is likely to triple over the next decade in Vietnam. Development and implementation of Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) policies and programs is of great importance for the Government of Vietnam that would help to improve the energy efficiency and contribute in meeting the increasing energy demand of the country in the future.In the recent years, the Government of Vietnam has made substantial progress in improving EE&C by initiating a number of EE&C policies and programs with the two most important ones are the Law on EE&C and the National Targeted Program on Energy Efficiency and Conservation (Phase I: 2006–2010 and Phase II: 2012–2015). However, implementation of these policies and programs has been challenged in reality. This paper mainly aims to provide an overview on the current and future energy context in Vietnam; review the evolution of the Government׳s EE&C policies and programs; and identify the challenges and provide the recommendations for implementing EE&C policies and programs more effectively in the future. This paper suggests that much more efforts relating to improvement on collection, analysis, and management of energy data; capacity building; close coordination among the relevant Ministries and the organizations and agencies during the implementation of EE&C policies and programs; etc. should be put forward in the coming years. In addition, a number of recommendations for promoting EE in three largest energy consumers in Vietnam – namely industrial, residential, and transport sectors has been made in this paper.