The World Bank in Viet Nam announced on Monday that the bank’s board of executive directors had approved a US$102 million loan to the Vietnamese Government to support enterprises in adopting energy-efficiency technologies and practices.

Under this project, industrial enterprises can access new credit to fund their purchases of energy efficiency and production-optimisation technologies, thus reducing energy consumption and production costs and increasing overall competitiveness in the domestic and international markets.

With support of the project, financial institutions and enterprises will be able to prepare, evaluate and appraise energy efficiency projects. Financial institutions can provide loans to support industrial energy efficiency investments, which will enable them to scale up energy efficiency lending to industries.

“We are committed to supporting Viet Nam’s drive to meet its future energy demand, and improving energy efficiency is the single best and cheapest option because it will help consumers save energy and reduce the need for new thermal power generation, while also reducing pollution and mitigating the risks of climate change,” Ousmane Dione, World Bank’s country director for Viet Nam, said. “If stronger programmes and policies are put in place, businesses would also have an incentive to cut down on wasteful practices and adopt more energy-efficient technologies.”

Funding under this project will be provided to participating financial institutions, which will then lend to industrial enterprises to invest in energy-efficient subprojects. — VNS