Hoàng Minh Chiến, deputy director of the Việt Nam Trade Promotion Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade, said climate change and environmental pollution have made businesses around the world to shift to a more sustainable development model. Vietnamese businesses should not go out of this trend. It is an opportunity on development but also a challenge for Vietnamese businesses at present.

According to a survey by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, 98 per cent of Việt Nam's micro, small and medium-sized enterprises have limitations in carrying out changes in their business models to a more sustainable manner.

Therefore, the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises has just been studying the green development model, but stopped short of taking any actions towards sustainable development.

The survey also shows that the pioneering enterprises in green development are foreign direct invested firms, public companies and exporting enterprises. They are enterprises having resources, as well as grasping the trends and requirements of the foreign markets.

There are many barriers to the businesses in carrying out the green development, especially micro, small and medium sized units. About 70 per cent of the businesses have not been fully aware of green development and benefits of pursuing a circular economy.

They also lack knowledge about standards of environment, social responsibility and corporate governance, according to Chiến.

Besides that, they faces challenges in terms of capital resources which prevent them from upgrading their old production technology.

On the other hand, a number of sustainable development programmes and projects supporting for businesses have only training courses on a large scale to raise businesses' awareness but have not met their specific needs.

Nguyễn Văn Khoa, general director of FPT, an enterprise that was interested in building a sustainable development strategy 12 years ago, said that Vietnamese businesses have slower access to the circular economy and green economy.

At present, FPT's foreign partners and customers have all required FPT to strictly comply with the conditions on sustainable development and green development.

Chiến from the Việt Nam Trade Promotion Agency recommends that the micro, small and medium sized-enterprises need to have the right mindset about sustainable development. They should implement innovation in production and business activities, optimise resources, and create green products and services.

At the same time, enterprises must have a long-term strategy towards sustainable development.

It should consider the sustainable development as an investment activity, although it cannot bring benefits to the businesses in the short term, but it will bear fruits in the medium and long term.

It is necessary to build and maintain corporate culture and corporate social responsibility as well as improve brand value and strengthen cooperation with other businesses.

According to Nguyễn Việt Dũng, general director of Bureau Veritas Vietnam, every business has its own path. However, the sustainable development is the trend of the world, including the assessment on products as well as value of the businesses. Therefore, Vietnamese businesses need to have investment for sustainable development.

Nguyễn Quang Vinh, deputy chairman of the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said the most important thing for the businesses now is to improve their awareness about green transformation. Other important factors are to have transformation roadmap and qualified human resource. — VNS