This photo shows power lines in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Vietnam will let electricity-guzzling factories buy electricity from wind and solar power producers, helping big companies like Samsung Electronics meet their climate targets and relieving pressure on the country's overstrained grid.
Without such a change, it was “difficult, if not impossible” for companies to meet their commitments to phase out reliance on fossil fuels. With more and more countries taxing carbon pollution, companies that can show that their factories use clean energy can enjoy a “considerable competitive advantage” in some markets, said Cooper, who contributed to the draftomg of the law.
Vietnam's move addresses investors' concerns about access to stable and clean energy. That's a priority for a country seen as a promising alternative for businesses looking to diversify supply chains outside China. Vietnam’s largest foreign investor, Samsung, was among the earliest to start working with the government on introducing this mechanism. The company aims to transition all its business sites to renewable energy by 2027, and Vietnam is its largest mobile phone manufacturing base, accounting for more than half of all production.
Bessma Aljarbou, head of Apple’s Supplier Carbon Solutions said in a statement that the plan provides suppliers with a “meaningful opportunity” to support Vietnam’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 while meeting its own goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. “In this model, there is no direct link between the consumer and generator. In fact, they can be hundreds of kilometers apart,” explained Cooper, adding that even though the company still buys electricity from the state-run utility it now has contractual evidence of its use of renewable energy.