# What Is Vietnam's Green Taxonomy, and How Do You Qualify for Green Credit?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/vietnam-green-taxonomy-decision-21

Published 2026-10-13.

Until 2025, a Vietnamese bank deciding whether a loan was green had guidelines but no binding national definition. Decision 21 changed that. It is Vietnam's first legally binding green taxonomy, and it decides which projects can be financed as green credit or green bonds.

This article explains what it says and how a company can use it to get a project financed.

## What Decision 21 is

**Decision 21/2025/QĐ-TTg** was signed by the Prime Minister on 4 July 2025 and took effect on 22 August 2025. It sets the national green taxonomy: the list of environmental objectives and project types that count as green, the criteria they must meet, and how they are confirmed.

## The two tests

A project qualifies as green when it meets both:

1. **Legal compliance:** it follows environmental law, with an approved environmental impact assessment, or a permit or confirmation that none is needed.
2. **Environmental benefit:** it delivers a benefit in one of the sectors listed in the decision's appendix. Seven sectors are listed, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and low-carbon industry.

Projects are confirmed by state authorities or by accredited independent bodies.

## How banks use it

Banks already manage environmental and social risk in lending under the State Bank of Vietnam's Circular 17/2022. Decision 21 adds a common definition of what green means, so a loan can be labelled and reported as green credit consistently across banks.

For a borrower, that means:

- **Find the matching category** in the appendix before you design the application.
- **Have your environmental permits in order;** without them, the project fails the first test whatever its benefits.
- **Quantify the benefit:** energy saved, emissions avoided, pollution reduced, with how you will measure it.
- **Budget for confirmation** by an accredited body where the bank requires it.

## Where it meets other rules

Many Vietnamese companies face carbon rules from two directions at once. Steel, cement and thermal power plants have emission quotas under Vietnam's pilot carbon market. Exporters of steel, aluminium, cement and fertiliser to the EU face CBAM. A project that cuts emissions per tonne can qualify as green credit, lower a quota shortfall and lower a CBAM bill at the same time. See [financing emission cuts at cement plants in Vietnam](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/finance-emission-cuts-cement-plant-vietnam) and [financing CBAM compliance for steel exporters in Vietnam](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/finance-cbam-compliance-steel-vietnam).

Senseible builds the before-and-after record banks and verifiers ask for: monthly energy and emissions from your bills and invoices, each linked to its source document. For the grid factor behind electricity emissions, see [Vietnam's grid emission factor](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/vietnam-grid-emission-factor).

Check the decision's appendix and your bank's green credit policy for the criteria that apply.

## Related guides

- [financing CBAM compliance for steel exporters in Vietnam](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/finance-cbam-compliance-steel-vietnam)
- [the Pakistan green taxonomy](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/pakistan-green-taxonomy)
- [financing emission cuts at cement plants in Vietnam](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/finance-emission-cuts-cement-plant-vietnam)
- [what banks finance with green deposits](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/rbi-green-deposits-what-banks-finance)