FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 26, 2024
CONTACT: v4climateleaders@gmail.com
On June 27th, Vietnamese energy expert Ngô Thị Tố Nhiên (Nhien) was reportedly sentenced to three and a half years in prison during a closed-door trial in the capital, Hanoi. No formal information has been disclosed on the sentencing by Vietnamese state media.
Nhien is the former Executive Director of the Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition (VIETSE), an energy think tank which was closed down following her arrest in September 2023. In recent years, many other organizations working on environmental and energy issues in the country have similarly been closed down or seen their operations severely curtailed.
Nhien’s arrest and subsequent sentencing is the latest in the alarming escalation of Vietnam’s crackdown on climate activists and energy experts who have been leading the country’s shift away from coal and fossil fuels.
Despite Vietnam’s commitment to a $15.5 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with G7 and other governments aimed at supporting the country’s transition away from coal, the government has been arresting and imprisoning numerous individuals working on renewable energy alternatives. These individuals include: Nguy Thi Khanh, Dang Dinh Bach, Hoang Thi Minh Hong, Mai Phan Loi, and Bach Hung Duong, who were all jailed on charges of tax evasion which critics describe as politically motivated. (More details can be found in the recently released report: The Missing ‘Just’ in Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).)
Nhien was initially detained by the police in September 2023 and since held in pre-trial detention. At that time, the Ministry of Public Security announced that she was arrested for “appropriation of information or documents” under Article 342 of the Penal Code. The information in question relates to the planning and development of electricity grids to support research on increasing the share of solar and wind energy in the national power mix.
Nhien is a researcher and energy policy expert who previously worked for many international organizations and institutions, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Commission, USAID and various UN agencies. Her work aimed to accelerate the transition of the Vietnamese energy system in a sustainable and reliable manner. At the time of her arrest, Nhien was working closely with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) on its Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP) program and the UN Development Program (UNDP) and providing important technical and policy advice on decreasing the country’s dependence on coal and fossil fuels. Such analysis is critical to inform the implementation of Vietnam’s JETP.
Various agencies and offices of the United Nations, including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR) have been monitoring the situation with increasing concern. The UNEP stated that “the intimidation and arrests of environmental advocates is taking place amid strong commitments being made to a just and sustainable energy transition in Viet Nam.”
The stated aim of the JETP is to rapidly spur a shift away from carbon-intensive energy sources while addressing the massive social consequences of this change. Following the Paris Agreement and other international instruments, the just aspect reflects the need for energy and climate financing to address historic inequalities and injustice as part of the transition process. As recognized in the political declaration establishing the Vietnam JETP, civil society is critical to a just transition. The essential role of civil society includes, for example, ensuring transparency and accountability, providing independent expertise and policy advice, monitoring the impact of the transition from a social and environmental perspective, and supporting vulnerable and affected communities to advocate for their rights.
The Vietnam Climate Defenders Coalition is calling for: the immediate release of the climate and environmental defenders unjustly imprisoned in Vietnam; the ability for civil society to participate freely and safely in monitoring and decision-making throughout the JETP planning and implementation processes; and the development of clear principles on “just transition” for JETPs, based on a broad participatory process and consistent with the international human rights obligations of government and business stakeholders and the safeguard policy commitments of financing institutions.
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