On the afternoon of December 16th, an information conference on the "For a Green National Environment 2025" program was held at the Vietnam Academy of Agriculture.
Accordingly, the closing ceremony and announcement of the winners of the "National Green ESG Enterprise Award 2025" is scheduled to take place on the evening of December 20th in Hanoi, within the framework of the National Green Concert. The organizers hope that the event will not only be an honorary event but also a next step in spreading a suitable, practical, and widely applicable ESG approach. The award is expected to recognize and honor pioneering businesses that invest in sustainable development, taking environmental, social, and transparent governance factors as pillars in their development strategies.
The organizing committee receives commemorative gifts from businesses participating in the program. Photo: Bao Thang.At the conference, Dr. Hoang Hiep, Director of the Institute for Green Growth Research (Vietnam Academy of Agriculture), stated that after more than 13 years of implementation, the program has shifted from a communication role to an action-oriented one. The focus for 2025 is to help businesses understand the green transformation roadmap and have tools to self-assess their readiness.
A key new development this year is the application of a set of 30 ESG criteria, referencing international standards such as GRI and MSCI, but adapted to suit the governance conditions, implementation capacity, and evidence-providing capabilities of Vietnamese businesses. The goal is not to create additional barriers, but to standardize the understanding of ESG within the domestic context.
This set of criteria is designed to simultaneously assess three pillars: environment, social, and governance, with weighting determined through expert surveys. This approach ensures that ESG is not merely understood as a formal report, but is linked to actual data and results in production and business operations.
The evaluation process is also conducted in a collaborative manner. Businesses participating in the survey will go through a preliminary assessment round. Units that meet at least 50% of the criteria are not immediately disqualified, but receive professional support from the organizing committee to complete their applications and adjust their ESG approach. Only in the final assessment round will the title of "National Green ESG Enterprise 2025" be considered for awarding to units that achieve 70 points or more.
Alongside the standardization of ESG assessments, the "National Green Environment Program 2025" also announced six key tasks for the 2025-2026 period, ranging from communication and training on the "Journey to Net Zero" program, greenhouse gas inventory in Ninh Binh, to community activities such as the National Green Station and competitions like the Green Ambassador and Green Fashion.