Net Zero Chains and Vietnam’s Path

My thoughts on Net Zero | 2026

Official link on
https://fili.vn/2025/11/cong-ly-khi-hau-khi-khoang-trong-tai-chinh-noi-rong-ho-sau-bat-binh-dang-768-1376486.htm

Vietnam has committed to Net Zero by 2050. That’s an easy number to say in a speech. It’s much harder to figure out what it means for you if you’re an SME trying to plan next Monday’s work.

A national commitment doesn’t automatically become a business action

This is the thing I see most clearly working with SMEs: national Net Zero roadmaps mostly live at the policy level — renewable energy, transport, heavy industry. Most Vietnamese businesses aren’t directly named in those roadmaps. They’re left asking: so what do I actually do?

My usual answer is to start from your supply chain, not from national policy. If you sell to a Japanese or European company that has already committed to Net Zero, that commitment gets pushed down to you — usually as a request for Scope 3 emissions data. That’s the real pressure most Vietnamese businesses will feel first, well before any domestic regulation catches up.

Three practical steps for businesses

One, know where you sit in the chain. Are you a tier-1 supplier, tier-2, further down? Reporting pressure arrives at different speeds depending on where you sit.

Two, measure before you commit. Don’t announce a Net Zero target before you have baseline emissions data. I’ve seen plenty of companies announce ambitious targets and then go quiet a few years later because they had no way to keep measuring progress.

Three, find allies in your industry. No single company reduces emissions easily on its own. Sharing data, experience, and sometimes even infrastructure with peers in the same sector cuts the learning cost significantly.

Net Zero isn’t a destination a company reaches alone. It’s a chain, and where you sit in it determines your next move.

By Nguyễn Ngân Sophie. First published on the Sustainability & Climate Coach blog.