"Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership is not ‘Just’", 30 July 2024

Unfortunately, the justice in the Vietnam JETP remains critically absent. ...

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Central to these concerns is the suppression of climate and environmental activists in Vietnam. Over the last few years, Vietnamese authorities have arrested and imprisoned six climate leaders and energy experts on false charges and increased crackdowns on independent organizations working on environmental and energy issues in the country. ...

Currently serving a five-year sentence is Dang Dinh Bach, a lawyer and former director of the nonprofit Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Center, who has devoted his life to protecting communities facing pollution and environmental damage. June 24 marked his third year behind bars. Serving three years in prison is Hoang Thi Minh Hong, a former Obama Foundation scholar who is the founder and director of the nonprofit Change Vietnam. The sixth climate leader arrested, energy policy expert Ngo Thi To Nhien, was reportedly sentenced last month to 3 and a half years in prison.

The targeted attacks on climate leaders severely limit — if not eliminate — meaningful participation by civil society in the JETP’s development and implementation. ... Without civil society involvement, the transition will remain top-down, opaque and dominated by interests pushing false solutions and a business-as-usual mindset over the transformative change needed to build a truly just, sustainable and resilient energy system.