While the world is fleeing from coal, Vietnam is becoming increasingly addicted to coal, according to Nguyen Dang Anh Thi, an energy and enviornment expert.

Participants at a recent conference in Hanoi called for smarter energy choices, given the impacts of coal power generation on air quality and air pollution’s influence on human health.

A discussion in Hanoi on February 25 called for smarter energy choices, given the impacts of coal power generation on air quality and air pollution’s influence on human health.

Warning of electricity shortage, the Vietnam Energy Association (VEA) has asked the Prime Minister to instruct local authorities not to turn their back on coal-fired thermopower projects.

LNG could replace coal in the power sector at a higher cost but would cause less pollution.

Pham Trong Thuc, deputy director general of the Industrial Safety Technique and Environmental Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, talks to Công Thương newspaper on the national plan to develop coal-fired power plants.

Vietnam buys coal from Indonesia at the price of VND1.6 million per ton, while coal from China is 6.6 times more expensive, at VND8.2 million.

VietNamNet Bridge - Under the national power development plan in 2011-2020 (seventh plan) approved by the Prime Minister in 2016, a series of coal-fired power plants will be built in the Mekong Delta.

VietNamNet Bridge - As Vietnam develops more coal-fired thermal power plants, the volume of slag and ash they discharge has increased rapidly. 

VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) plans to submit to the PM a draft decree on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). 

Vietnam had a bumper year in attracting FDI (foreign direct investment) in 2017. The three coal-fired thermal power projects registered by Japanese investors had total capital of $7 billion.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam’s coal-fired power plants which generate electricity and those serving industrial plants are worsening pollution. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Coal-fired thermal power plants which emit huge amounts of dust are still not required to issue reports on the possible impact on people’s health.

VietNamNet Bridge - While a large amount of coal was exported in the first months of the year, most coal used in the country was imported. 

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) has agreed to open up its coal-fired power plants once a month for local authorities and residents to learn about and monitor their operations.

 Building just a third of planned new coal-fired power plants around the world would push hundreds of millions of people into poverty as it accelerates climate change past an agreed limit of 2 degrees Celsius of warming,

 VietNamNet Bridge – Air pollution from Vietnamese coal-fired power plants killed 4,300 people in 2011, and plants aren't reducing emissions any time soon, according to a recent Harvard University study.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has said that coal-fired power projects will not be approved to get off the ground unless their investors show effective plans for ash treatment.