Vietnam's Laws on Environmental Protection

Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP 

Passed

Chapter XI of Decree 08 specifies certain activities regarding the environmental protection obligations of the Government authorities. These activities include the management and treatment of waste, construction of facilities for environmental protection, adaption to climate change, communication and provision of training to increase awareness and knowledge on environmental protection, dissemination of the Law on Environmental Protection and response to climate change.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP dated 10 January 2022 detailing several articles of the Law on Environmental Protection ("Decree 08")

Law on Environmental Protection No: 55/2014/QH13

Law on Environmental Protection No. 72/2020/QH14

Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP

Decree 05/2025/ND-CP on amendments to Decree 08/2022/ND-CP guiding Law on Environmental Protection

Entry into force

Law passed

Amended

The Law specifies that environmental protection should be in harmony with economic development, social protection, biodiversity protection and adapting to climate change. The revised law replaces a previous version published in 2005 and states that protecting the environment is the responsibility of all agencies, organisations, households and individuals; that organisations and individuals that benefit from the environment are responsible for providing financial support for environmental protection activities; and also outlines a polluter-pays principle. It recommends that the development and use of clean and renewable forms of energy be encouraged to reduce GHG emissions and to protect the ozone layer. It also specifies that a road map be developed so that Vietnam may participate in global GHG mitigation activities appropriate to the country's socio-economic circumstances and the international treaties of which Vietnam is a member. The law requires the development of a National Environmental Protection Plan to assess the current environmental status, and environmental and climate change forecasts. It introduces several environmental criteria to classify investment projects, including (1) scale, capacity, and type of production, business or services; (2) the area of land use, of land with water surface and/or of sea area, the scale of exploitation of natural resources; and (3) sensitive environmental factors. Such criteria will help determine which project is subject to environment impact preliminary assessment (EIPA), environment impact assessment (EIA) and environment permit.
Decree 05/2025/ND-CP requires the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment to develop a national and regional monitoring and evaluation system for climate change adaptation activities; develop criteria for identifying priority projects and tasks related to climate change adaptation; develop criteria for assessing impacts, vulnerability, risks, and criteria for assessing losses and damages caused by climate change; and develop reports assessing impacts, vulnerability, risks, losses and damages caused by climate change at the national and sectoral levels.

Law on Environmental Protection

Circular No. 01/2022/TT-BTNMT on Guidelines for Implementation of Law on Environmental Protection regarding Response to Climate Change

Circular No. 07/2025/TT-BNNMTT regulating the decentralisation and delimitation of state management authorities in the field of the environment and climate change

Circular No. 09/2026/TT-BNNMTT amending Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BNNMTT and Circular No. 07/2025/TT-BNNMTT

<ol>
<li>Pursuant to article 1, this Circular elaborates on provisions of the <a href="https://climate-laws.org/geographies/vietnam/laws/law-on-environmental-protection-no-72-2020-qh14" target="_self">Law on Environmental Protection</a> and the <a href="https://climate-laws.org/geographies/vietnam/policies/decree-no-06-2022-nd-cp-on-mitigation-of-green-house-gas-ghg-emissions-and-protection-of-ozone-layer" target="_self">Decree</a> prescribing mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and ozone layer protection. The Circular comprises 5 Chapters:General provisions;</li>
<li>Assessment of impacts, vulnerability, risks, loss and damage caused by climate change;</li>
<li>Verification of GHG inventory results and GHG emissions mitigation;</li>
<li>List and guidelines on use, collection, transport, recycling, reuse and treatment of controlled substances; and</li>
<li>Implementation.</li>
</ol>

Circular No. 11/2025/VBHN-BNNMT on Guidelines for Assessment of Climate Change Impacts

Date issued

This Circular details regulations for the implementation of the Law on Environmental Protection regarding climate change response, specifically concerning the assessment of impacts, vulnerability, risks, losses and damages from climate change based on climate change scenarios published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, for investment projects. There are provisions regarding the calculation of the value of loss and damage caused by climate change, in monetary terms.

This document was downloaded from the <a href="https://unfccc.int/" target="_blank"> UNFCCC website</a>. Please check <a href="https://unfccc.int/this-site/terms-of-use" target="_blank"> terms of use </a> for citation and licensing of third party data.

UNFCCC Submissions

This document was downloaded from the <a href="https://unccd.int/" target="_blank">UNCCD website</a>. Please check <a href="https://www.unccd.int/terms-of-use" target="_blank">terms of use </a>for citation and licensing of third party data.

UNCCD Submissions

This document was downloaded from the <a href="https://ort.cbd.int/" target="_blank">CBD website</a>. Please check <a href="https://www.cbd.int/terms" target="_blank">terms of use </a>for citation and licensing of third party data.

UNCBD Submissions

The summary of this document was written by researchers at the <a href="http://lse.ac.uk/grantham" target="_blank"> Grantham Research Institute </a> . If you want to use this summary, please check <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/cclw-terms-and-conditions" target="_blank"> terms of use </a> for citation and licensing of third party data.

CCLW national policies

This entry and summary were provided by the Climate Policy Database. If you want to use the summary, please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.

Climate Policy Database

Carbon Market Regulations Tracker offers standardised summaries and direct links to relevant regulations concerning baseline-and-crediting market activities, within voluntary carbon markets and those under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

This entry and summary were provided by Gold Standard. If you want to use the summary, please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.

Gold Standard

This entry was provided by Laws.Africa. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.

Laws Africa

This entry and summary were provided by PreventionWeb. If you want to reference this document, please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.

PreventionWeb

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Tradable permits are market-based tools that grant permission for specific activities, frequently used to regulate emissions. These permits can be issued within a trading system to manage environmental impacts.

An integrated system of hazard monitoring, forecasting and prediction, that enables individuals, communities, governments, businesses and others to take timely action to reduce disaster risks in advance of hazardous events.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

Actions to adapt human health, healthcare systems and well-being to climate change.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

People whose health, both mental and physical, makes them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

This sector provides medical services, manufactures medical equipment, and develops pharmaceuticals to maintain and improve health.

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

Activities that provide lodging, food, and entertainment services to guests, including hotels, restaurants, and resorts.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

This sector provides communication services, software development, and IT solutions.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Heavy precipitation refers to any form of weather where substances fall from the sky, including rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Climate change can have a range of impacts on technological system. Extreme weather events can cause infrastructure failures like power outages or damage to roads and bridges, as well as the impacts from waste following natural disasters. Human activities also cause technological impacts, such as the risks posed by oil spillage and leaks.

Hot temperature extremes are daily maximum temperatures  that were exceeded on average once in a decade or once in 50 years, and includes heatwaves.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Geohazards are adverse geological phenomenon's that are capable of causing widespread damage or loss to property, life and the environment, such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions and tsunamis. Climate change can increase the frequency and severity of some geohazards, such as landslides, and soil erosion.

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Lai Châu

Lào Cai

Hà Giang

Cao Bằng

Sơn La

Yên Bái

Tuyên Quang

Lạng Sơn

Quảng Ninh

Hòa Bình

Ninh Bình

Thái Bình

Thanh Hóa

Nghệ An

Hà Tĩnh

Quảng Bình

Quảng Trị

Thừa Thiên-Huế

Quảng Nam

Kon Tum

Quảng Ngãi

Gia Lai

Bình Định

Phú Yên

Đắk Lắk

Khánh Hòa

Lâm Đồng

Ninh Thuận

Tây Ninh

Đồng Nai

Bình Thuận

Long An

Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu

An Giang

Đồng Tháp

Tiền Giang

Kiến Giang

Vĩnh Long

Bến Tre

Trà Vinh

Sóc Trăng

Bắc Kạn

Bắc Giang

Bạc Liêu

Bắc Ninh

Bình Dương

Bình Phước

Cà Mau

Hải Dương

Hà Nam

Hưng Yên

Nam Định

Phú Thọ

Thái Nguyên

Vĩnh Phúc

Điện Biên

Đắk Nông

Hậu Giang

Cần Thơ

Đà Nẵng

Hà Nội

Hải Phòng

Hồ Chí Minh

Climate Change Laws of the World

Find climate change laws, policies, targets and other climate policy data and indicators for {text}, alongside information about their legislative process.

{text} climate laws and policies

The Climate Change Laws of the World database gives you access to national-level climate change legislation and policies from around the world.

Law and Policy Search

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Circular No. 11/2025/VBHN-BNNMT on Guidelines for Assessment of Climate Change Impacts

Summary

Documents

Topics mentioned most in this policy
Beta

Part of a collection

Vietnam's Laws on Environmental Protection

Note

Circular No. 11/2025/VBHN-BNNMT on Guidelines for Assessment of Climate Change Impacts

Summary

Documents

Topics mentioned most in this policy Beta

Part of a collection

Vietnam's Laws on Environmental Protection

Note

Topics mentioned most in this policy
Beta