Resolution 198/2025/QH15 of 17 May 2025 on special mechanisms and policies for private sector development provides that private businesses, household businesses and individual traders receive 2 percent per year interest-rate support from the State when borrowing for green or circular projects and applying an environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards framework (Article 9.1). On 17 September 2026, the Prime Minister issued Decision 46/2026/QD-TTg, effective 1 November 2026, guiding how such projects are identified and how the ESG framework is applied.
Green and circular projects
- Green project: a project of a listed type that meets the objectives and requirements in Appendix I of the Decision.
- Circular project: a project in one of four groups that meets the sector or product requirements in Appendix II: circular design and production; circular use (reuse, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing, leasing, sharing); resource recovery from by-products and waste; and industrial symbiosis and circular linkages in industrial zones, clusters and urban areas.
Confirmation by an independent verifier
Confirmation is issued by an independent verification organisation (Article 4). It must be a legal entity providing conformity assessment or audit services, with a management system and capacity meeting TCVN ISO/IEC 17029:2020 (or ISO/IEC 17029:2019), or the Vietnamese assurance standard 3000 or ISAE 3000. The dossier comprises an application and a project conformity statement in the prescribed forms. Timing and fees are agreed between the parties. The certificate must state the project scope, the basis of the determination and the conditions for maintaining green or circular status.
The ESG framework
- The framework combines legal compliance criteria (Part I, Appendix VI) and voluntary criteria (Part II, Appendix VI) (Article 5).
- Businesses prepare an ESG framework report in the prescribed form. Environmental content relates to the project or facility; social and governance content covers the whole business.
- Minimum number of voluntary criteria: 3 for household and individual businesses, 6 for micro and small enterprises, 12 for medium enterprises and 18 for other enterprises. Businesses applying an international ESG standard are exempt from these minimums.
- The report is published on the business's website, if it has one, and the business is legally responsible for its accuracy.
Obligations after confirmation
The business notifies the provincial People's Committee within 30 days of receiving the certificate, continues to meet the criteria and fully implements its ESG report. If the project stops, no longer meets the criteria or the ESG report is not fully applied, the business must notify within 5 working days (Article 6). Provincial People's Committees publish project lists on 30 June and 31 December each year.
Implications for project owners
- Legal compliance comes first: the mandatory part of the ESG framework rests on existing rules on environment, labor, occupational safety and health, social insurance and gender equality. A project without a completed EIA, environmental permit or full monitoring records will struggle to produce a credible ESG report.
- Data must be verifiable: verifiers work to assurance standards, so owners should have evidence ready, such as environmental records, energy, water and waste data, labor records and a grievance mechanism.
- Build on existing international standards: businesses already applying the IFC Performance Standards, or audited against environmental and social requirements of international lenders, can use that material as a basis for the ESG report.
- Ongoing, not one-off: green or circular status and the ESG report must be maintained for as long as support is received, which calls for an internal tracking system.