The Hanoi Regime and Climate Change
The Hanoi Regime and Climate Change
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From: David Brown <nworbd@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 3:42 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
I did some work recently on the big role Hanoi has blocked out for coal-fired power plants from here to 2030 and beyond, and how the regime might square that with its Paris commitment to reduce its CO2 emissions by between 8 and 25 percent (https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/vietnam-makes-a-big-push-for-coal-while-pledging-to-curb-emissions/).
Now, inspired by a remarkable analysis of how China came to embrace adaptation to climate change that was published today by Foreign Policy (http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/31/the-convenient-disappearance-of-climate-change-denial-in-china/), I hope to assemble a similarly coherent account of the Hanoi regime's internal debate and decision-making on climate change policy.
I'm eager to trade ideas with any VSG members or friends of VSG members who've given this subject some study. If that's you, please P.M. me.
Regards, David Brown
retired US Foreign Service Officer
& writer on contemporary Vietnam
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From: Benjamin Swanton <benswanton@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 9:29 PM
To: David Brown <nworbd@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Here's a map that the NGO CHANGE made using information from government plans which compares coal-fired power plants in operation today with those planned for construction and decommission by 2030.
Best,
Ben Swanton
Independent Gender Justice Consultant
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From: Oscar Salemink <o.salemink@anthro.ku.dk>
Date: Fri, Jun 2, 2017 at 12:51 AM
To: David Brown <nworbd@gmail.com>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear David,
You may want to read Eren Zink’s Hot science, high water (2013; see here http://www.niaspress.dk/books/hot-science-high-water); it deals with the emergence and gradual acceptance of an environmentalist discourse in Vietnam, including about climate change.
Mike DiGregorio of the Asia Foundation has also done quite a bit of work on climate change in Vietnam.
Best regards,
Oscar Salemink
Professor of Anthropology
University of Copenhagen
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Øster Farimagsgade 5
1353 København K.
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From: Kiet Tran <kietygory@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jun 4, 2017 at 5:44 AM
To: Benjamin Swanton <benswanton@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hi,
Recently moved to Vietnam to setup a few solar energy pilot projects. It was a challenge already in Norway/ Sweden where I lived and now even more so with company setup in Vietnam....
But coal plant news like this below reminds me and my partners why we feel this struggle is worth our time and effort....
If you are in HCMC, and you are interested in solar panels, please feel free to contact me.
Article 30 May 2017:
"Shaken by news that Vietnam had confirmed plans to build another 40 gigawatts worth of coal-fired power plants by 2030, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim ad libbed a few lines into a May 2016 speech to an audience of government and business leaders. “If Vietnam goes forward with 40GW of coal, if the entire region implements the coal-based plans right now, I think we are finished,” Kim said. “That would spell disaster for us and our planet.”
The people in Hanoi who make energy policy were very likely startled to learn that what Vietnam does or does not do as it develops its energy sector has world-shaking importance."
http://www.eco-business.com/news/vietnam-makes-a-big-push-for-coal-while-pledging-to-curb-emissions/
BR - Kiet
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From: David Brown <nworbd@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jun 4, 2017 at 8:40 AM
To: Oscar Salemink <o.salemink@anthro.ku.dk>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Oscar, thank you very much for telling me about Eren's book. I have ordered it.
Warm regards, David