Vietnamese exports face pressure from global greening

The trend of greening the global supply chain is putting unprecedented pressure on Vietnamese exports, especially in the wood, agricultural and processing industries. At the workshop “Adapting to the global green supply chain: Challenges and opportunities for Vietnamese exports” on the morning of November 26, experts warned that businesses must be ready to meet ESG, EUDR, CBAM and the 2026 carbon market.

Pressure from tightening green standards

The workshop “Adapting to the global green supply chain: Challenges and opportunities for Vietnamese exports” organized by VCCI in Hanoi attracted a large number of export businesses.

In her opening speech, Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Tam, Director of the Center for Supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (under VCCI) emphasized: green transformation has become a mandatory requirement to maintain orders and competitive position in the international market, in the context of the EU and US markets simultaneously tightening environmental standards and supply chain responsibility.

According to the analysis of Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Anh Dung, VinUniversity (VinUni), the wood industry – one of Vietnam’s export pillars is under great pressure from non-tariff barriers and new technical regulations. In 2024, the export turnover of wood and wood products will reach 14.7 billion USD, of which nearly 70% will come from finished furniture (HS 9401, 9403). The US accounts for about 55% of total turnover, equivalent to 8.8 billion USD, while the EU accounts for about 0.5 billion USD. Although the EVFTA has reduced tariffs on many product groups to 0%, the biggest challenge for businesses is no longer tariffs but increasingly complex compliance costs: verifying timber legality, FSC/PEFC certification, chemical testing according to REACH, complying with EUDR regulations and requiring GPS tracking for each plot of land.

From May 2025, the EU classified Vietnam as a “low risk” group, reducing the inspection rate to about 1%, but businesses will only benefit when they fully meet the records and data.

In particular, EUDR requires businesses to prove that their products are not related to deforestation after December 31, 2020, along with GPS coordinates and “negligible risk declaration”. This is a major barrier for thousands of small processing facilities due to the lack of digital tools, data and standardized traceability systems.

Along with that, CBAM – the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, although not yet directly applied to wood and furniture, creates indirect pressure when input materials such as steel, aluminum, chemicals, coatings, etc. bear higher carbon costs. Many EU importers have begun to require Vietnamese enterprises to report their product carbon footprint (PCF) as a trading condition.

Opportunities from the carbon market and green support policies

In parallel with the increasing pressure from the export market, Dr. Le Duy Anh commented: Vietnamese enterprises are facing an important turning point when the domestic carbon market is preparing to operate on a pilot basis from the end of 2026. The 2025-2028 period will build a technical platform, a national registration system, quota management software and a carbon credit exchange – offset mechanism; from 2029 will be fully operational and auction emission quotas.

Enterprises that are able to measure and reduce emissions early will gain double benefits: maintain orders from the EU, the US, Japan and create carbon credits from energy savings, use of renewable energy or waste management for resale. It is estimated that enterprises can save 10-20% of energy costs if they deploy a systematic measurement and optimization system according to IFC’s recommendations.

However, the biggest challenge for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is the lack of emission data and high inventory costs, while currently the whole country has only about 2-3 units that can inventory greenhouse gases according to international standards. Many enterprises have to sell carbon credits through intermediaries, increasing costs and reducing incentives to invest in green transformation.

From a policy perspective, experts recommended that the State consider reducing corporate income tax on deforestation-free certified products, exempting VAT on machinery and equipment serving sustainable transformation, and forming “Common Compliance Cost Groups” in industrial clusters to reduce certification, inspection and compliance costs for SMEs.

The workshop also emphasized the importance of a digital platform that supports businesses in accessing real-time carbon market information and using AI for consulting – a new tool developed under the British Council’s support project. This is expected to narrow the capacity gap between large enterprises and SMEs in preparing emissions data.

In the context of ESG, EUDR, CBAM and carbon market requirements gradually becoming the new norm, the general message delivered by the workshop was: green transformation is not just about costs, but is the key to protecting and expanding market share for Vietnamese exports.

Proactive data preparation, investment in traceability systems and carbon measurement capabilities will determine the competitiveness of businesses in the global greening race.

Source: Haiquanonline