Investing in green industrial parks needs to take into account the problem of storm and flood protection

Recommendations were stated by experts at the conference “Greening industrial parks in Vietnam”, on July 7.

Ms. Phan Thu Hang, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Green Building Council (VGBC), said that Vietnam is clearly affected by climate change. Extreme heat waves, storms and floods can directly impact production and business activities.

“The future green industrial park must not only save energy, reduce carbon emissions, but also need to use natural infrastructure as a solution to withstand natural disasters,” Ms. Hang said.

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Vietnam often suffers dozens of natural disasters each year. Last year alone, the country had 22 storms and tropical depressions, causing more than VND 85,000 billion in damage.

VGBC CEO Douglas Snyder warned that events such as severe flooding could cause industrial parks to close for weeks, causing equipment damage and major economic losses. “Natural disaster resilience is becoming an essential requirement for designing green industrial parks and managing risks due to climate change,” he said.

In addition, the sustainable finance classification systems of Vietnam and ASEAN also include criteria for climate change adaptation and resilience. This means that an industrial park has good natural disaster resistance, helping to reduce damage to production facilities and increase access to green capital.

As a unit participating in the Silverlake biological high-tech park project (Hanoi), Mr. Torsten Illgen, Chairman of Inros Lackner Vietnam, said that the ability to withstand storms, floods and natural disasters was considered by the investor from the beginning. Accordingly, this 199-hectare complex is designed with a nearly 25-hectare regulation lake in the center to collect and treat rainwater – part of the “sponge city” strategy.

According to him, this model helps reduce flooding, increase green space, improve climate resilience, and replenish groundwater sources.

“With newly built industrial parks, resilience should be designed from the beginning, in the 1/2000 planning. Investors should specifically take into account the landscape, water sources and what trees to plant… there,” Mr. Torsten Illgen recommended.

Experts say green transformation has become a “mandatory requirement” for the future development and competitiveness of Vietnam’s manufacturing industry. In particular, if the industrial sector does not move towards net zero emissions, Vietnam risks seeing other manufacturers leave for other countries.

According to Mr. Douglas Snyder, green design for industrial parks needs to be integrated right from the idea stage, to save costs and increase efficiency. “You should look at costs for the entire project life cycle. If not designed in advance, conversion costs can be high and implementation more complicated,” he commented.