Hanoi (VNA)✅ – A workshop was held in Hanoi on September 20 to explore the potential of Vietnam’s just energy for local economic and labour growth.

The event, entitled “Just Energy Transition = Job Accelerator for Vietnam? German-Vietnamese perspective on employment and skills needs,” hosted by the German Embassy in Vietnam, attracted nearly 200 delegates and 300 private attendees. Dr Guido Hilder, German Ambassador said that in his country, the number of employees working in occupations requiring green skills rose 56.7% to 5 million between 2012 and 2020. This shows that the energy transition is a complex and demanding process, but also provides great opportunities to the people and the economies. Noting that Vietnam has set a target of net-zero emissions by 2050, the diplomat said Germany is a long-standing and reliable partner of Vietnam. The first joint project in the field of renewable energy between the two countries started in 2009. Since then their cooperation has continuously grown and currently comprises an overall portfolio of ongoing and planned projects of more than 1 billion Euro. Hilder said that Germany has supported Vietnam in employment transition by training Vietnamese workers in the fields of electricity, electronics and roof-top solar power installation. Each year, tens of thousands of students are trained in 11 vocational training facilities, 79% of whom have been employed. With high labour demand, Vietnam will need long-term decisions from the State, along with the promotion of creativity and innovation in the public and private sectors, and the mobilisation of public and private investment, especially in modernising the power grid as well as increasing renewable energy electricity production, said the ambassador. As highly skilled workers in the energy industry is expected to further increase in Vietnam in the next decade, therefore, training facilities need to adapt to this development trend to create jobs and meet domestic demand, he went on. Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Committee for Science, Technology and Environment Ta Dinh Thi said that strongly committed to achieving the net-zero emissions target by 2050, Vietnam has been focusing on building and promulgating a new strategic framework and relevant policies to realise this goal. Promoting green employment transition and seeking fair employment opportunities in the labour market related to renewable energy and new energy is also a focal point of Vietnam, he said. He highlighted the need to have comprehensive strategies and plans for training and transferring high-quality human resources in the field of green energy. “We must ensure to exploit the strengths of existing human resources, while also applying and promoting advanced achievements of science, technology, and new labour skills related to transition energy,” Thi said. According to the draft National Power Development Plan, by 2045, the whole country will have over 75% renewable energy. Current studies also show that, in the fields of wind and solar energy, about 25% of jobs created are for high-skilled workers. Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha emphasised that as one of the members participating in implementing the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), in the time to come, the ministry will deploy measures to increase job creation and develop labourers' skills following Vietnam's energy transition, including building standards of skills for the renewable energy sector and enhance the quality of vocational training facilities./.