The United States has backed out of the International Partners Group, the bloc of wealthy nations providing funding under Vietnam’s Just Energy Partnership Agreement signed back in 2022. This was not surprising given that the US announced it would be taking a step back from its lead role in implementing Indonesia’s JETP last month.
Of note, the domestic press has remained relatively mum on this development. It’s not clear why this might be, however, Vietnam is currently on edge with respect to becoming a potential target for US tariffs and it may be that it wants to avoid antagonising its biggest export market.
It could also be that it might want to avoid drawing attention to the agreement that has achieved very little by way of facilitating Vietnam’s green energy transition despite having big ambitions. Notably, as of October last year, no loans to Vietnam had been funded through the agreement. That said, it could be to avoid drawing attention to Vietnam’s green energy transition altogether which has not been going very well at all over the last two years with coal use spiking and the investment environment around renewables uncertain.