On March 14, 2022, the Institute of Labour and Social Issues (ILLSA) under the Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) organized an online workshop on “Labour and Social issues related to Vietnam's commitment at the COP26” with the assistance from GIZ. The workshop attracted the strong interest from more than 40 delegates from different units and research and training institutes of MoLISA, and other ministries such as Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industries (VCCI), Academy of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Vietnam is one among the countries that will be impacted at most by climate change. To address this issue, the Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed the strong commitment of Vietnam at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow for the net-zero goal by 2050 and the phase out of coal power in the 2040s.

However, in parallel with the development toward a greener economy using renewable energy and/or with a green lifestyle and consumption, the socially just transition is also important to be incorporated throughout the process. Therefore, policy makers shall seriously take into account of the impact on workers and employment as well as other social actors to ensure predicting and minimizing negative impacts of climate change on people's livelihoods and lives especially on marginalized, minority and disadvantage communities.

The workshop on “Labour and Social issues related to Vietnam's commitments at the COP26” is an opportunity for stakeholders to share information and exchange ideas and initiatives on different fields of action such as  renewable energy, circular economy, mobilization of financial resources, etc. Especially, speakers revealed several important policy implications of policy changes to labour and social issues, vocational training and gender equality, etc. To ensure the high efficiency of the collaborative effort, participants shared the common vision on the necessity of strengthening the cooperation among different agencies involving in the implementation of the COP26’s commitments. It was also noticed the expression of having good propaganda campaigns and more workshops like this one to raise awareness and keep the public and stakeholders well informed of each other’s action plan.

There were the participation of representatives from four different projects of GIZ Vietnam at the workshop: the Macroeconomic Reform Program in Vietnam, the project NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC – TIA), the project Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (4E) and the project Support to Vietnam for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (VN-SIPA). This activity is to confirm the GIZ’s efforts in supporting the Vietnamese government on their path towards a green and sustainable economy.