Green Growth in Trade in Vietnam

Green growth, green development, and circular economy are becoming a global trend as a positive solution to reduce greenhouse emissions, improve resilience and creativity of the economy, towards carbon neutrality and sustainable development goals. This development trend has been forming new "rules of the game" in trade and investment. Important import markets implement high tax rates on products with large "carbon footprints"; Many developed economies around the world have set stricter environmental regulations on imported goods. In that context, in order not to be eliminated from the game by the high environmental and social standards set by import markets, exporting countries, including Vietnam, need to change their thinking and pay attention. To the "greenness" of the international trade production and supply chain to meet the strict technical requirements of the market. Green trade is an opportunity to create environmentally friendly goods and services, an opportunity for goods to adapt to increasingly high standards related to environmental protection and combating climate change. This is also a "green criterion" for exports to foreign markets. However, the process of achieving the carbon neutrality target will shift the comparative advantage of exports from labor- and energy-intensive sectors to sectors that apply more advanced and greener techniques. The article studies the relationship between green growth and trade, opportunities and challenges for Vietnam when implementing green trade. From there, we propose some solutions to develop green trade in the coming time.