IBLF Global advocates ESG policies for enhanced foreign investment in Vietnam

13 November 2023

The Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City (www.itpc.gov.vn) put on a great show in the City of London this week: the 25-strong delegation, led by Vice-Chairman of HCMC Peoples’ Committee Vo Van Hoan, comprised some leading companies from the “engine of growth” of the Vietnamese economy. In attendance were Ambassador Long Nguyen Hoang,  Mark Garnier MP (PM's Trade Envoy to Vietnam), Ian Gibbons (CEO at UKABC), Dr Yen Tran (Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Heriot-Watt University) and others (see photo). It was impressive to hear about the major infrastructure projects – roads, railways, bridges – and also high-tech projects centred around the Saigon Hi-Tech Park. There are also ambitious plans to turn HCMC into a global financial centre.

Brook Horowitz, CEO of IBLF Global, was invited to speak about how the business environment could be made (even more) attractive for foreign investment. It seemed that what could give this immense commercial undertaking a competitive edge over other middle-income countries in Southeast Asia and elsewhere would be to scale up the implementation of ESG policies.

Vietnam is already investing heavily in renewables such as solar energy and offshore wind power and other sustainable sectors. At COP26, Vietnam made some wide-reaching commitments on reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 and attaining other climate-friendly targets. There are legal and commercial incentives in place to encourage green finance and investment.

But of course, as elsewhere, the challenge is as much in the implementation of the green policies, as in the policies themselves. As I pointed out, there are plenty more opportunities to embed ESG practices in companies’ day-to-day operations: environmentally safe waste disposal, recycling, circular economy, health and safety in the workplace, employment conditions, transparent accounting and reporting – for investors, all these aspects of ESG in management and operations reduce risk and raise the value of the companies, while making a real impact on social development.

Over the last few years, at IBLF Global, we’ve been working on this with our partners at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Now it seems like it might be the right time for such efforts to be scaled up and linked directly to this new investment drive.

IBLF Global