20 May 2016, Vietnam

Brick manufacturing, a key contributor to Vietnam’s economic growth, increased by 6% annually from 2005 until 2011. However, more than 87% of the building bricks used in Vietnam are fired clay bricks, which are a significant threat to the environment due to their high-energy consumption and high CO2 output.

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Vietnam has implemented a project entitled “Promotion of Non-Fired Brick (NFB) Production and Utilization in Vietnam”, funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and by relevant government institutions.

The Project’s objective is to reduce the annual growth rate of GHG emissions by displacing the use of fossil fuels and the usage of good quality soil for brick making through the increased production, sale and utilization of non-fired bricks in Vietnam. The Project will be implemented over a 5-year period and is expected to generate GHG emission reductions estimated at 383 kilotonnes of CO2 through the displacement of coal-fired clay brick kilns.

UNDP engaged Mr. Gyanendra Sthapit, Director, Habitech at AIT Solutions as an International Building Material Specialist who will assist the National Project Director to effectively deliver project outputs with specific focus on technical capacity building and demonstration of NFB technology.

Mr. Sthapit travelled to Vietnam from 15 -20 May 2016. During his mission, he visited equipment manufacturing factory and also building materials producing factory together with technical advisor Mr. Nguyen Ba Vinh, Vice Chairman cum Secretary General of Vietnam Energy Conservation and Energy Association and also Technical Advisor to Project Monitoring Unit of Ministry of Science and Technology. In his mission, he had a meeting with national experts on building materials led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Tuan, Vice Dean of Building Materials Faculty and Head of Building Materials Division; Dr. Danh Dai Bui, Head of Lab, National University of Civil Engineering and Mr. Do Giao Tien, Project Manager, GKN. Similarly, he also met the task force group of national experts on standards and codes on building materials led by Mr. Tran Quang Hao, Senior Expert, Ministry of Construction; Dr. Thai Duy Sam, Vice Chairman and General Director, Vietnam Association for Building Materials. The mission concluded with the meeting with Ms. Vu Thi Thu Hang, Programme Analyst, Climate Change Mitigation, UNDP and Mr. Nguyen Ba Vinh.

 

Sources:

General Statistics Office of Vietnam

Information from the Vietnam Association for Building Materials (VABM)

UNDP Vietnam Contract Agreement