In Vietnam, greenhouse gas emissions are about 400 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, of which the energy sector accounts for about two-thirds. With the Vietnamese government’s strong commitment at COP26, the domestic carbon credit market is forecast to grow rapidly in the near future.
Active green transformation
A PVN leader said that emissions from its production and business activities account for a very small proportion of the total energy sector emissions. This is because the group’s equipment systems and production technologies are relatively modern compared to the general level of Vietnam’s energy industry.
According to 2020 data, PVN’s emissions only accounted for about 7% of the energy sector’s greenhouse gas emissions (19.5/273 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent). However, in the period up to 2035, with a vision for 2050, if no measures are taken to reduce emissions, PVN’s emission proportion will increase rapidly, mainly in the power industry sector.
Currently, the group is updating its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with Vietnam’s new commitments. Accordingly, by 2025 the group plans to cut 15.55 million tonnes of CO2 compared to baseline emissions in 2010. During the 2031-2050 period, the group will roll out green solutions for coal power plants, carbon capture, use and storage (CCS/CCUS) projects; continue to implement clean energy production projects, such as green hydrogen and green ammonia; and develop the value chain of carbon capture, use and storage.
Since power plants often use large amounts of fuel and emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, PV Power pays great attention to finding effective solutions to reduce emissions. From now to 2030, PV Power aims to introduce 12 solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at its power plants, and according to PVN’s calculations, it is expected to reduce 160,884 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the 2018-2025 period and 72,150 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the 2026-2030 period.
Most registered solutions concern saving and reducing energy used in production and solar energy. “For sustainable development, PV Power prioritises and encourages the use of new technologies, energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies in all production and business activities, focusing on renewable energy development and actively researching clean fuels, alternative fuels and other advanced emission reduction technologies to promptly respond to the energy transition towards the government’s net-zero goal”, emphasised a PV Power representative.
Enhancing carbon capture and storage solutions
In recent years, PV Gas has built and implemented an energy transition roadmap with the orientation of researching and applying solutions to reduce and optimise the use of energy and fuel, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its production facilities; develop liquefied natural gas (LNG) import projects in the form of “import hubs”, connected with gas power plant complexes and distributing LNG to existing markets, expanding new markets, replacing coal and oil fuels with higher emission levels than gas; researching and participating in the production and trading chain of green hydrogen and green ammonia based on making the most of existing infrastructure and investing in new infrastructure.
Besides the above-mentioned units, other PVN members are also working on their green transformation plans, aiming to minimise greenhouse gas emissions. For example, PVEP has formulated a roadmap to reduce net emissions by 20% by 2030, and 50% by 2040, reaching the net zero target by 2050.
To achieve that goal, PVEP proposes solutions including reducing direct emissions from existing projects, developing CCS/CCUS projects, expanding renewable energy and other low-carbon solutions, and optimising using carbon offsets based on afforestation. The key solution in its long-term plan is carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which captures CO2 from emission sources and then transports it to long-term storage venues.
PVN leaders affirmed that CCS is considered one of the important measures to reduce oil and gas enterprises’ greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, a total of 34 oil and gas fields off the Vietnamese coast have been evaluated for CO2 storage potential.
If only fields with storage potential greater than 10 million tonnes of CO2 are counted, the effective storage capacity of oil and gas fields in Vietnam’s four currently exploited sedimentary basins is 1.15 gigatonnes of CO2, with the largest mine at over 300 million tonnes of CO2. Oil and gas fields that are about to run out can be used to store and bury CO2 while existing collection pipeline infrastructure can be used to transport CO2.
In addition, the company has strengths in using and recycling CO2, such as using CO2 to improve the oil recovery coefficient and produce nitrogen, synthetic fuels, chemicals and materials. According to PVN leaders, large and stable financial resources will help the group invest in large-scale and highly effective CCS projects.
This is also an opportunity for the group to open a new business direction, creating carbon credits from CO2 capture and storage in offshore oil and gas fields, pioneering in deploying CCS, creating economic benefits and bringing profits from selling carbon credits or participating in the carbon market, as well as strengthening PVN’s position, helping to increase its reputation for the Vietnamese oil sector’s compliance with regulations on combating climate change and reducing greenhouse gases.
Chairman of PVN Le Manh Hung said that besides using scientific and technological solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, afforestation is the second main solution to help it accumulate carbon credits. “For the enterprise, afforestation is not only a social responsibility but also beneficial to the group when it is recognised and granted carbon credits to offset emissions.”
Hung stressed that afforestation and forest restoration activities in recent years have demonstrated PVN’s strong awareness of protecting the ecological environment and limiting the negative effects of climate change, contributing to Vietnam’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.
