“Leading the Pack”: How PVN, Petrolimex, Vitas, and TH Milk are Championing Vietnam’s ESG Economy

Vietnam is the first country in the world to be recognized by IIA as an independent Internal Audit Institute after just 2 years

“IIA Vietnam is the first country in the world to be recognized by the international IIA as an independent Internal Audit Institute just 2 years after its establishment,” “Especially, while all other countries took 3 years to be evaluated, IIA Vietnam only took 22 months to be recognized as an independent Internal Audit Institute,” noted a remarkable sharing at the 2024 Annual Internal Audit Conference.

It is known that Vietnam joined the global internal audit network IIA Global in 2022. IIA is a leading organization in internal audit standards, certifications, training, research, and professional guidance worldwide. In 2024, Vietnamese listed companies have made remarkable progress in awareness as well as the transition to sustainable development.

Compared to previous years, IIA Vietnam’s 2022 survey showed that Vietnamese businesses were not fully aware of ESG, and even the implementation of internal audits for ESG topics varied. The 2023 report showed an improvement in awareness, but there were still many obstacles to implementing ESG in internal audits. However, since 2023, most businesses have had regulations/decisions on the establishment or organization of internal audit activities.

The survey participants were listed companies on the 2 stock exchanges of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, enterprises with state capital of over 50% are companies operating under the parent-subsidiary model, state-owned enterprises are companies operating under the parent-subsidiary model.

The “leading” enterprises PVN, Petrolimex, Vitas, TH Milk… are leading the Vietnamese ESG economy

In fact, as recorded by Green Media Hub, many listed companies and large enterprises have accompanied and promoted ESG – an extremely important index in the new economy, determining trade with foreign countries as well as attracting investment capital into Vietnam.

In which, with the role of “leading bird”, Petrovietnam (PVN) set a target of achieving the ratio of renewable energy in total primary energy supply of 15-20% by 2030 and 25-30% by 2045. In parallel, PVN also strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy activities by 15% by 2030 and 20% by 2045; improve LNG import capacity to 8 billion m3/year by 2030 and 15 billion m3/year by 2045…

To achieve these goals, PVN is known to be building a comprehensive sustainable development strategy towards 2045, focusing on technology innovation and energy transition. The Group also orients the period of 2025 – 2030 to pilot hydrogen production projects; by 2030 – 2045 officially produce commercial “clean” hydrogen for use in refineries, fertilizer plants. Currently, the Dung Quat and Nghi Son refineries are building long-term research plans for hydrogen. The Phu My and Ca Mau fertilizer plants also plan to experiment with using green hydrogen to replace part of ammonia production.

As the main unit in the domestic gasoline business with the largest market share, Petrolimex (PLX) is known as a pioneer in completing the replacement of all RON 92 gasoline products with E5 biofuel from January 2022. The company targets to achieve 50% of revenue from clean and environmentally friendly fuel and energy products by 2030, and by 2045 will achieve 100% of clean and environmentally friendly energy proportion.

In the textile and garment group, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan – Director of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) Enterprise Support Center – shared with Green Media Hub: “In fact, Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises have implemented the green transition since 2018 from the direction of the Government as well as from meeting the requirements of importing countries through new generation Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)” .

Accordingly, Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises have applied the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environment Design) certificate; nearly 1,000 units have also applied Higg FEM – Facility Environmental Module (Higg Facility Environmental Module) was built by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) followed by Cascale; Vietnam is currently the country with the second highest national average score in v-Higg FEM (Higg FEM 2022), ranking after China and before Bangladesh.

He emphasized that the results that the Vietnamese textile and garment industry has achieved in recent years in terms of export turnover with remarkable growth (8-10%/year) have proved the correct development strategy. However, Mr. Tuan also said that enterprises have not yet evaluated and recognized this certificate due to high costs (accounting for 10-15% of costs).

In the manufacturing group, Heineken Vietnam’s representative set a target for 2030 to reduce emissions to 0 (Net Zero) in the scope of direct production. Specifically, activities such as production, waste treatment, and internal energy management. Ms. Tran Ngoc Anh, Heineken Vietnam’s Senior External Relations Manager, said that the company is pioneering the use of 99% renewable energy in production while completing the target of brewing beer with biomass energy at all 5 breweries nationwide.

While waiting for solutions for renewable energy, Heineken Vietnam has purchased Attribute Certificates (EACs) for 100% of the electricity consumed at 6 breweries. All 5 Heineken Vietnam breweries apply the circular economy model “reuse – share – repair”, no landfill waste since 2021, 4 years earlier than initially planned.

Similarly, Mr. Arghya Mandal – General Director of TH Milk Joint Stock Company also shared that TH has promoted green factories in Vietnam, using renewable energy since 2020. Mr. Mandal believes that to achieve the goal of Net Zero carbon with a low-emission, sustainable economy, the activities of enterprises and manufacturers play an important role in developing green factories and implementing producer responsibility (EPR)…

For the wood enterprise group, Mr. Nguyen Chanh Phuong – Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts and Wood Processing Association (Hawa) said that exports are the main activity, so the awareness of the wood industry’s green transition must be promoted early. Because the world market is shifting very quickly towards green, requiring businesses to transform their business and product models, and product standards to meet market demands. The biggest challenge is not only in standards but also in creativity and design autonomy to increase competitiveness.