Tiếng Việt
A Suitable Approach for Small-Scale Facilities
The Vietnamese government has made a strong commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. To meet this target, several mechanisms and policies have been implemented, including Decree 06/2022/NĐ-CP, which mandates high-emission production facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Existing policies primarily target high-emission sectors, such as heavy industries, energy, chemical production, and transportation. For smaller-scale production facilities, such as textile and dyeing mills, breweries, soft drink factories, and drying systems, there are no mandatory emission reduction requirements. However, these facilities are encouraged to adopt low-emission technologies to align with national goals and sustainable development trends.
According to Trần Văn Lượng, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Thermal Science and Technology, although small in scale, the number of facilities in these sectors is significant. Many rely on coal to operate boiler systems, which play a central role in industrial production. Boilers are used to burn fuel (electricity, coal, oil, gas, biomass, etc.) to generate steam. Estimates suggest Vietnam has approximately 9,000 industrial boilers in operation, driven by industries such as textiles (over 5,000 companies) and footwear (over 2,000 companies), with considerable coal and oil consumption.
Currently, about 30% of boilers use biomass as fuel. Most coal-fired boilers can be retrofitted to burn biomass exclusively or co-fired with coal. The potential for retrofitting and replacing fossil fuel boilers with biomass boilers could reach over 6,000 units, according to Lượng.
Đào Đình An, a representative from An Bình Company, highlighted suitable biomass fuels, such as rice husks, wood chips, and wood pellets. Biomass is significantly cheaper than oil and comparable in cost to coal, with greater environmental benefits. Enterprises unable to fully replace old coal or oil boilers can gradually transition by retrofitting them to use multiple fuels. For specific conversion plans, businesses should conduct surveys, assess their needs, and balance production costs.
The establishment of a domestic carbon credit market serves as an incentive for enterprises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to Tô Xuân Phúc, an expert from Forest Trends, Decree 06/2022/NĐ-CP allows large-emission facilities to use carbon credits to offset excess emissions, capped at 10% of their allocated emissions quota. Enterprises investing in emission-reducing technologies can trade generated carbon credits, encouraging proactive reductions even among low-emission facilities.
Potential for Wood Pellet Adoption
Vietnam’s wood pellet industry has grown significantly in recent years. Byproducts of the timber industry, such as branches, sawdust, and wood chips, are used to produce pellets. Statistics from the Vietnam Wood Pellet Association show that over 95% of the 4 million tons of pellets produced annually are exported, mainly to Japan and South Korea, where they are used as an alternative to coal in power generation.
Domestically, only about 5% of wood pellets are used, primarily in industrial boiler systems within global supply chains (e.g., suppliers for Adidas, Nike, Samsung) or industrial zones committed to green transition. Lượng emphasized that with Vietnam’s net-zero commitment, the domestic market for pellets has significant potential. However, this potential requires mechanisms and actions to create demand, including mandatory and/or incentive-based policies for local facilities to adopt biomass solutions.
Challenges include limited pellet production, the predominance of export markets, and insufficient standards for biomass boiler manufacturing. High investment costs and lower efficiency of biomass boilers are additional barriers.
In the long term, aligned with Vietnam’s energy transition strategy, pellets can be utilized not only in industrial boilers but also in power generation. The government should plan biomass fuel zones, develop policies to promote reforestation, and integrate industrial energy crops to reduce biomass costs further.
Alongside these incentives, regulations for carbon credit formation and trading, particularly in the forestry sector, should be developed and issued promptly to support the transition to sustainable energy practices.
