Vietnam has taken 180th place out of 180 countries in Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index 2024. Vietnam scored 24.5 points out of 100 with Estonia taking out first place with a score of 75.3.
The report found that air pollution had increased significantly since its last report with Vietnam falling on said metric from a score of 33.2 to 7.5. It also saw a significant fall in ‘marine protection stringency’. On the flip side, it recorded improvements in ‘primary forest loss’ and ‘unsafe sanitation’.
The results of this report come as a blow to Vietnam’s green credentials which have become increasingly important for foreign firms establishing themselves in the country. These results, however, should not come as a surprise with the International Energy Association noting earlier this year that Vietnam was on track to become the world’s fifth-biggest coal importer.
This comes after power shortages last year that resulted from a number of challenges facing Vietnam’s electricity sector. The response to these shortages looks to have been to utilise coal in the first instance and save water in hydro dams for when coal power plants are at capacity. Ergo, the reduced air quality.