The UK-funded Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) program will be extended until 2029 with additional funding of £40 million (nearly US$51 million) to support at least 800 low-carbon projects in 16 countries, including Vietnam, according to a British diplomat. 

British Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Emily Hamblin announced the additional grant at a ceremony held in the city on Wednesday to sum up the implementation of the second phase of the CFA program in Vietnam. 

The CFA is a £12.6 million (about $16 million) technical assistance program funded by International Climate Finance (ICF) through the British Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), according to the UK government’s website. 

As part of the UK’s efforts to support climate action at scale, the CFA provides practical ways to help governments in emerging economies finance and deliver their climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, including their national climate plans and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The program has operated in ten countries, including Colombia, Nigeria, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa, Peru, Egypt, Pakistan, Uganda, and Vietnam, with the aim of encouraging the financial flows needed to deliver on goals to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Co-benefits from the program include improved gender equality and social inclusion and building resilience to climate impacts, according to the British government.  

The aforementioned $51 million extra funding will be intended for the CFA’s extension from late 2024 until 2029 to support at least 800 low carbon projects in 16 countries across Asia, Latin America, and Africa, Consul General Hamblin said.

The CFA program was deployed in Vietnam in 2022 as “a practical and deal-oriented program that supports climate projects to improve their bankability and appeal to investors and financiers,” according to PwC Vietnam, a member of the UK-based PwC network of professional services firms, which is a CFA partner that implements the program in Vietnam (CFA Vietnam).

The CFA Vietnam has so far undergone two phases, with phase 1 lasting from December 2022 to May 2023 and incorporating nine projects.

During phase 2, slated from August 2023 to May 2024, 11 projects aimed at tackling climate change impacts in Vietnam have received assistance from the program.

These projects all focused on clean energy and energy transition, e-mobility, AFOLU (agriculture, forestry and other land uses), circular economy, waste management/plastic recycling, and low-carbon manufacturing, and have the potential to benefit communities across the country, PwC Vietnam said.

Hamblin expressed her pleasure at the positive results that these projects have achieved so far, believing that they will continue to receive support from investors.

This summing-up ceremony marked the completion of the capacity building process for these projects, in terms of finance, technique, gender equality, and social integration, she said. 

The projects’ developers now have an opportunity to build relationships with developers, financiers, and policymakers from both Vietnam and the UK, while concerned parties will be granted early access to the high-quality projects, Hamblin commented. 

The CFA Vietnam not only helps Vietnam meet its energy transition goals but supports sustainable development through low-carbon projects as well.

The UK highly appreciates Vietnam's determination to reduce net emissions to zero by 2050, and the CFA Vietnam is specifically designed to support Vietnam in achieving that target, the consul general stressed.

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