Australia’s Foreign Minister Announces Green Recovery Partnerships in Vietnam
Photo: The Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Ms Robyn Mudie, Ms Lê Cassandra from Orlar Vietnam, Mr Phạm Đức Thọ Director of E-Green, the Foreign Minister for Vietnam Mr Bui Thanh Son, the Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Ms Trần Lan Phương Deputy Director-General of VBSP and Ms Từ Thu Hiền from Cricket One.
Australia’s Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, yesterday announced four new business partnerships in Vietnam to reduce carbon emissions and protect vulnerable habitats. The partnerships are tackling climate change, while generating jobs and income and empowering women.
The Australian Government is contributing A$2.5 million to the four business partnerships that will leverage a further A$6.4 million in partner investment and was announced during an official visit to Vietnam by the Foreign Minister.
The partnerships are supporting Vietnam to tackle the challenges of climate change and energy transition, while creating tangible economic benefits and supporting business growth.
The four Business Partnerships Platform partnerships announced include:
Advanced vertical farming for climate, lives and landscapes – A partnership with Australian agri-tech company, Orlar Vietnam, cross-sector partnership and strategy consultancy, Raise Partners , SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and the Australian Government to scale an innovative vertical farming technology to increase sustainable food production and free up agriculture land for rehabilitation. The partnership will test and expand existing vertical farm technology to demonstrate the climate and economic value of vertical farms in the Mekong Delta, an area vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Dr. Lyndal Hugo, Founder and CEO at Orlar: “We can operate in these areas with 1% of the energy of other agri-technologies, net zero emissions, and 400x more water use efficiency than rice. Our latest tests show once again, zero residues in all our produce. The BPP accelerates our mission to create more clean jobs and more clean food for the development of Vietnam.”
Dr. Lyndal Hugo, Founder and CEO at Orlar © Orlar Vietnam
Sustainable cricket farming – a partnership with technology-based food start-up Cricket One, tech start-up Entomo Ventures and the Australian Government to scale a cricket farming venture in Vietnam. The partnership supports a marketing campaign and technology and product innovations to promote the consumption of crickets and catalyse growth in this exciting new industry.
Nam Dang, CEO of Cricket One: “Insects are the missing link in our food system. Cricket food is both environmentally friendly and climate resilient. Together with our partners, we are excited to show how we can pioneer the sustainable food production to benefit community, planet and consumers”
A cricket-protein based burger © Cricket one
Bioenergy on commercial farms in Vietnam – A partnership with Vietnamese eco-engineering company E-GREEN, leading carbon project development specialist Nexus for Development, Vietnamese commercial bank HD Bank, Dutch NGO SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and the Australian Government to scale up sustainable electricity generation at large and medium-sized pig farms using state-of-the-art equipment. The partnership uses on-site biogas to generate energy benefiting the climate and reducing costs for farmers.
Clarisse Kehler Siebert, Executive Director at Nexus for Development: “This partnership is an excellent opportunity to showcase the global and local impacts that can be achieved when the right consortium aligns their goals to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Nexus is excited to develop a new carbon project from these efforts to support the ongoing benefits that this project is expected to provide in the coming years to both the people of Vietnam and the global climate.”
Cooking with sustainable biogas © Climate Sense
Dual use of solar energy for agriculture and aquaculture in Vietnam – a partnership with Vietnamese business Climate Sense Ltd, a government owned bank Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, solar engineering, procurement, and construction company Vu Phong, iNGO The Asia Foundation and the Australian Government to scale up investment in dual use agri-photovoltaic systems (APV), with a focus on small and medium-sized farms in the Mekong Delta. The APV systems create energy while supporting an increase in crop production from a single plot of land, benefiting farmers and investors.
Representatives from each of the partnerships met with the Australian Foreign Minister and the Australian Ambassador to Vietnam in Hanoi to mark the announcement. Find out more about the Foreign Minister’s official visit to Vietnam here.
To learn more about the BPP’s green recovery partnerships in Vietnam visit here.
