"Vietnam’s Arrest of Environmentalists Draws Fire Amid Surge of Funding for Green Transition", 8 October 2023

A spate of arrests of leading Vietnamese environmentalists is drawing criticism of Hanoi during an infusion of international aid to support the country's shift away from coal.

Police arrested Ngo Thi To Nhien, the executive director of the Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise, a Hanoi-based think tank focused on energy transition, in Hanoi on Sept. 20.

She was the sixth environmentalist detained in the past two years and had been involved – with the U.N. Development Program Vietnam office – in implementing a 2022 deal between Vietnam and the G7 countries, EU, Norway and Denmark aimed at shifting Vietnam to cleaner energy sources.

The Just Energy Transition Partnership, or JETP, agreement came after Vietnam committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference.

According to the JETP deal, $15.5 billion in the form of grants, loans, and investment from the public and private sector will go to support Vietnam's transition to green energy sources.

In April, the 88 Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit focused on human rights in Vietnam, released a report on four leading anti-coal campaigners – Dang Dinh Bach, Nguy Thi Khanh, Mai Phan Loi, and Bach Hung Duong – imprisoned for tax evasion since 2021. The report outlines the results of an investigation into the arrests and details closed-door hearings, shows purported flaws in the prosecution, and argues that the tax evasion charge appears to be politically motivated.

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