Hanoi (VNA) – Nineteen enterprises have been honoured at an award ceremony on startups focusing on coping with climate change, held in Hanoi by the Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with the World Bank.
These are enterprises given financial assistance as well as incubating service from the Vietnam Centre for Innovation and Creativity.
Speaking at the ceremony, Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh stressed that climate change has increasingly drawn the interest of the international community and that Vietnam is considered as one of five countries in the world most heavily affected by climate change.
In the wake of climate change, in recent years the Vietnamese government has been implementing many new institutions, policies and action plans to enhance national capability in response to climate change, it has also been working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency in economic sectors, he said.
In order to help Vietnam cope with climate change, the international community has supported many projects on green growth, and in technical and investment assistance projects to strengthen institutions and infrastructure.
In 2015, the WB provided non-refundable aid sourced from the official development assistance of the Department for International Development ( DFID ) of the United Kingdom and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) of Australia, to create the Vietnam Climate Change Innovation Centre.
Through the selection and assessment of more than 300 project entries, the Minister of Science and Technology and experts from the WB selected 19 enterprises with excellent ideas which prove technology’s positive impact on green growth – to develop a low-carbon economy in Vietnam.-VNA