Green Growth and Global Goals for 2030

The Fourth Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 Summit (P4G) took place in Hanoi from April 14 to 17. This summit was convened against the backdrop of urgent challenges in promoting green growth and implementing the 2030 global goals, necessitating more effective and robust new measures.

According to Voice of Vietnam, the summit, themed “Global Partners Committed to Sustainable, People-Centered Green Transformation,” aims to inject new momentum into countries’ green transformations and sustainable growth amidst signs of diverging interest and investment in green transformation globally.

Risks of Deviating from Sustainable Development

At the Sustainable Development Goals Summit held at the United Nations headquarters in New York last September, alarming data was presented. It revealed that the 17 sustainable development goals established by the international community, including those for green growth, face significant risks of being unmet. UN Secretary-General António Guterres attributed this primarily to the lack of necessary funding and technological support from developed countries to developing nations, as well as ineffective cooperation mechanisms between countries, public sectors, and private sectors.

He stated, “The Sustainable Development Goals represent an ambitious vision and a commitment to a better, healthier, safer, more prosperous, and sustainable future. However, these goals face immense resistance. Currently, more than four-fifths of the Sustainable Development Goals have not been achieved.”

Additionally, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed highlighted another paradox: while renewable energy is becoming cheaper and more accessible, the green transformation among countries often remains inequitable, with poor and developing nations continuing to face numerous challenges in achieving economic greening and sustainable development.

She warned, “A dangerous reality is that the clean energy transition is repeating and exacerbating past injustices: developing countries possess abundant renewable energy resources necessary for the transition but are pushed to the bottom of the value chain, with their people exploited and their environments damaged, while other nations grow wealthy from these resources.”

Thus, the mechanisms for cooperation in green growth and sustainable development, as well as funding support and seed capital, need to be transformed. Particularly, developing and underdeveloped countries have significant untapped potential to develop carbon credit markets through forestry, agriculture, and renewable energy projects.

The Fourth P4G Summit and New Practices

The P4G Summit, conceived in Denmark and established in 2017, aims to coordinate policies, foster public-private cooperation, connect governments, businesses, and socio-political organizations, and promote green growth to contribute to achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Currently, the summit focuses on key areas such as reducing food loss and waste, climate-resilient smart agriculture, sustainable water resources, renewable energy, and zero-emission transport.

Since its inception, the summit has achieved remarkable results, such as establishing over 100 partnerships, raising more than $100 million to support small and micro-enterprises in addressing climate change, helping to reduce approximately 10.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and positively impacting over 1.6 million people across various countries.

The Fourth P4G Summit in Vietnam is expected to enhance cooperation mechanisms and inject new energy into green growth and sustainable development. CEO Robin McGuckin remarked, “Vietnam holds a very advantageous position in innovation and technology. The country has the essential elements for success, including being an emerging economy with a young workforce that embodies entrepreneurship and diligence. Furthermore, Vietnam’s manufacturing capabilities are impressive, excelling not only in traditional export sectors but also in high-tech fields such as electric vehicles, electric vehicle batteries, and artificial intelligence (AI).”

It is anticipated that the Fourth P4G Summit in Vietnam will powerfully reaffirm the commitment to green, sustainable, and people-centered growth through the Hanoi Declaration and demonstrate a determination to take responsible actions in addressing current global challenges.