Recently, it has not been hard to see many businesses loudly showing off golden trophies and certificates of honour, or drawing up their own reports and documents to prove, on their own terms, that their projects are green. All of them hope these will serve as a “lucky charm” for publicity and easy access to preferential capital.
But in reality, the question is: How many trophies, and how many self-declared dossiers, actually help a business get its hands on sustainable loans?
From the perspective of experts who work closely with the banking system, this picture needs to be reassessed in a more substantive and clear-headed way.
- Where does Vietnamese banks’ sustainable lending capital actually come from?
Most green credit packages and sustainable development loans at Vietnamese commercial banks today are not funded entirely from short-term domestic deposits; the majority comes from two main sources:
- Entrusted capital or international funding: Concessional credit packages from the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or global climate funds, channelled through the domestic commercial banking system.
- Green bonds / International credit lines: Large banks must raise funds on international capital markets under stringent environmental and social commitment standards.
Precisely because this capital comes from outside, the disbursement criteria do not lie in award trophies or domestic self-declared documents and reports produced for form’s sake, but squarely in the risk appetite and rigorous technical standards of the original funders.
- Passing the international technical gateway: Don’t get bogged down in “box-ticking games”
International financial institutions do not judge whether a project or a business is “green” or “sustainable” on the basis of campaign-style awards or self-declared “green” dossiers that have never been verified against international standards. They operate on a system of independent technical audits and global standards:
- International-standard emissions measurement: Scope 1, Scope 2 and even Scope 3 data must be inventoried transparently and be traceable.
- Supply chain and social impact assessment (E&S): In-depth review of labour rights, site safety, and impacts on biodiversity and surrounding communities.
- Transparent risk governance: Anti-greenwashing compliance standards are checked by tier-1 international auditors.
The consequence? Businesses spend considerable sums to take part in award services, or fumble through self-made, intuition-based dossiers to polish their image. But when they take those documents to apply for disbursement from foreign capital sources, everything is still flatly rejected because such self-declarations are empty of data and have no technical value. The money spent on surface activities is gone, and real capital remains out of reach.
- What should businesses substantively do before even thinking about accessing green finance?
Instead of getting carried away by award campaigns or drawing up self-declared reports as short-term fixes, businesses that want to go the distance with green finance need to change their mindset at the root:
- Build an internal data foundation (Data-first): Data on energy, emissions, waste and labour management must be measured, digitised and accumulated from day-to-day operations. Investment funds cannot be persuaded by self-declared paperwork without real figures.
- Transform substantively instead of playing box-ticking games: Rather than investing in award campaigns or hiring superficial copywriting, invest in optimising energy efficiency and upgrading emission-reduction technology right on the production line. When the core of the project is genuinely green, proving it to the bank becomes naturally convincing.
- Choose the right specialist partner: If you need support, choose consultants with deep understanding of bank finance and international verification standards to ensure your dossier hits the core of investment funds’ appraisal, and avoid “losing money and gaining nothing” on forms of proof that are not recognised.
Closing words from VietESG: Green finance is an inevitable trend and a major opportunity, but it is not a game of award trophies or unverified self-declared reports. Businesses can only truly open the “bank’s safe” when they decisively abandon box-ticking games and focus on their core operational capabilities.
