Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has been a proactive and responsible nation,committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, said Deputy PrimeMinister Trinh Dinh Dung during a reception for Chairman of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Hoesung Lee in Hanoi onOctober 10.

Speaking highly of the IPCC and Lee’s contribution towards strengthening globalclimate change response, Deputy PM Dung said that the IPCC’s recommendationshave been turned into definitive actions to fight climate change in Vietnam.

The country has now approved plans for the implementation of the ParisAgreement on climate change, as well as fully implemented the treaties of theUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol,he said.

In the past few years, the Advisory Council for the National Committee onClimate Change, comprised of leading scientists, have made scientific reportson elements of extreme weather and climate change, as well as helped buildstrategies and policies on climate change in Vietnam.

As a country badly-hit by climate change, Vietnam has been active in performinginternational commitments and building plans to respond to climate change.However, Vietnam’s efforts cannot work alone and the country wants othersworldwide and relevant organisations to take a firm hold of their responsibilitiestoo, he stressed.

He asked the IPCC to share its experience with Vietnam in monitoring damage causedby climate change in the coming time.

Hoesung Lee, for his part, said that the Paris Agreement on climate change wasadopted at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) with aview to cap the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degreesCelsius above pre-industrial level and to pursue efforts to limit thetemperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The IPCC was then invited to build the “Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees Celsius”report, a special report on the impact of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsiusabove pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emissionpathways. The report was reviewed by competent parties in the Republic of Koreaon October 8, he said.

Following the meeting in the RoK, Vietnam was chosen as the first country to beintroduced to this special report. Lee believed that its scientific researchwill help Vietnam, as well as other countries vulnerable to climate change,draw up rational plans in response to climate change and its effects.

He recommended that Vietnam shift into a low-carbon economy, with a focus onthe development of renewable energies. The Vietnamese Government shouldencourage the involvement of enterprises in managing climate change-relatedrisks, he suggested. –VNA