This photo taken on Nov 4, 2019 shows a view of Patuxay park in Vientiane, capital of Laos. (KAIKEO SAIYASANE / XINHUA)

VIENTIANE - Laos is a small developing country, which has strong economic growth, but there are concerns about the environment as many companies would like to invest in rural areas and make use of the country’s natural resources.

Even though Laos still have plenty of open spaces and forests, now is the time for the government to think about green growth and set the country on the right kind of development path that does not destroy the country’s natural resources or harm the environment.

For four years Laos has been a member of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) which was established in 2012. It is a treaty-based, international, intergovernmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies.

Even though Laos still has  plenty of open spaces and forests, now is the time for the government to think about green growth and set the country on the right kind of development path that does not destroy the country’s natural resources or harm the environment

There are 36 member countries globally, from Latin America to Asia and the Pacific, and another 20 countries are in the process of joining.

Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute, Dr Frank Rijsberman, told Vientiane Times that Laos became the 28th member of the institute in 2017.

The institute helps member countries to change their economic models so they become more green, more sustainable, and inclusive.

GGGI’s first project in Laos was a green growth potential assessment to comprehensively examine Laos’ performance in key green growth areas.

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The assessment results were fed into the formulation of the National Green Growth Strategy endorsed in early 2019 by the prime minister as an overarching policy document to promote green growth in Laos.

GGGI is currently supporting the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the National Institute for Economic Research to mainstream and implement this strategy.

The institute is also working with other key ministries to provide technical advisory support and mobilize investments in line with Laos’ green growth priorities and opportunities.

This work includes support to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, implementing a KOICA-funded project on green cities development in Vientiane, and Pakxe focusing on solid waste management and wastewater management, development of a regulatory framework for electric vehicles, and policies to support electric mobility.

The institute is also helping the Ministry of Energy and Mines to collaborate with USAID Clean Power Asia to design a solar pilot auction for 40MW of solar farms.

Rijsberman said poor countries like Laos want to drive economic growth so people can have high incomes like in South Korea where he lives.

He explained that green growth means finding ways to ensure growth is environmentally sustainable so that there is no pollution and the next generation can see blue sky. This means helping governments to come up with plans that can grow the economy in a green way.

READ MORE: Chinese firms pioneer green growth push

During his recent visit to Laos, Rijsberman discussed the green growth strategy with many ministries.

The plan for Laos will be incorporated in the five-year national environment plan, to be followed up with investment projects to improve the plan.

The Global Green Growth Institute is working on renewable energy options in the hope of demonstrating that the best option is to combine hydropower with other renewable energy sources that can work together well

Laos uses mostly hydropower as a source of energy but Vietnam uses a lot of coal. However, the government isn’t planning to build any more coal-fired power plants and last year asked to build solar and other power plants, which are cheaper to run than coal.

If Laos builds coal power plants now, people will pay more for electricity for the next 30 years and another problem is that there will be a lot of air pollution, Rijsberman said.

Electric buses would be less polluting than buses run on diesel and can also be cheaper, but they require a charging station. There is a project which involves a technical study to show the government how to use electric buses.

A week ago the government decided to buy 100 electric buses.

The big challenge is that all of this is difficult and new, so it’s important to share experiences and introduce technologies from South Korea and other places in a way that people understand them.

READ MORE: Technology holds key to green growth

Laos has plenty of hydropower so it’s a good opportunity to start using electric buses because Laos has to import diesel, which is expensive. If more electric buses and motorbikes are used, they can use energy sourced from hydropower.

GGGI is working on renewable energy options in the hope of demonstrating that the best option is to combine hydropower with other renewable energy sources that can work together well. 

Five ministries have said they want to put green growth into practice. Rijsberman said this was a good first step and it’s now necessary to identify a good project and good experiences to help ministries and get them to work together.

It’s also important to think about how to do nature-based tourism, which the institute believes can help to stop deforestation.

Rijsberman said that before starting work in Laos, he asked what the most important areas were that the government wanted to work on with the Global Green Growth Institute. The government said green cities were a key priority for Laos.

GGGI aims to deliver impact through six strategic outcomes: greenhouse gas emissions reduction; creation of green jobs; increased access to sustainable services such as clean energy, sustainable public transport, improved sanitation, and sustainable waste management; air quality improvement; natural capital protection; and enhanced adaptation to climate change.