This case study is included in the report “Financing Repression” – find out more in this page.
Since mid-2021, while negotiating and rolling out an international agreement on just energy transition (JET) with several DFIs and governments, the Vietnamese government has been criminalizing environmental and climate leaders on false charges. Although the resulting Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) agreement includes references to the importance of holding consultations and ensuring broad social consensus, the authorities have targeted climate and environmental leaders who were conducting legitimate policy and advocacy work around the just transition, and the need to phase out coal and scale-up renewable energy alternatives.
According to CSOs and journalists documenting these reprisals, all these detentions appear to be politically motivated and marked by serious irregularities and lack of due process.
- Six climate and environmental leaders were held in pre-trial detention, without charges. Five of them were charged with tax evasion and received long prison sentences, with a disproportionately harsh sentence for this type of charge.
- One climate leader was charged with “appropriation of information or documents” and also received a long prison sentence.
- In four of the trials, the proceedings took place behind closed doors and concluded in less than a day.
- In one case, an environmental rights advocate was only allowed to communicate with his lawyer seven months after being detained.
Moreover, following pressure from the Vietnamese authorities, five organizations associated with these environmental and climate leaders (including the network Vietnam Sustainable Energy Alliance, where several of the imprisoned defenders were leading members) were closed down, and one was restructured.
The targeted environmental and climate leaders include:
- Dang Dinh Bach, lawyer and former Director of the Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Centre (imprisoned in June 2021 and currently serving a five-year sentence).
- Mai Phan Loi, journalist and former Director of Media in Educating Community (MEC) and Bach Hung Duong, lawyer and former MEC staff (both arrested in June 2021 and released in September 2023).
- Nguy Thi Khanh, founder and former Executive Director of Green Innovation and Development, GreenID (detained from January 2022 to May 2023).
- Hoang Thi Minh Hong, founder and former Director of CHANGE Vietnam (arrested in 2023 and released in September 2024).
- Ngo Thi To Nhien, Executive Director of the Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise, VIETSE (arrested in September 2023 and reportedly sentenced to 3.5 years in jail during a closed-door trial in June 2024)
Human Rights Defender Dang Dinh Bach
About the JETP
In December 2022, Vietnam and the International Partners Group (EU, UK, US, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Canada, Denmark, and Norway) announced the creation of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). Through this intergovernmental structure, the Global North partners committed to provide technical assistance and mobilize US$ 15.5 billion, aiming to support a “just” energy transition in Vietnam. So far, Vietnam has mobilized US$ 2.75 billion in concessional loans, to be disbursed through various DFIs, including ADB, EIB, the French Development Bank (AFD), and the German Development Bank (KfW).
Why DFIs should care
According to the JETP Political Declaration, “for the transition to be just and equitable, regular consultation is required, including with media, NGOs and other stakeholders to ensure broad social consensus.”
However, the imprisonment of Vietnamese environmental and climate leaders sends a different message, stifling any possibility of participation and dissent in JETP activities that DFIs are supporting. The criminalization of these six environmental and climate leaders, along with broader civic space restrictions, indicate that it is not safe for local human rights defenders and community members to meaningfully participate, seek information, or raise concerns about just energy transition plans.
In Vietnam, in recent years, local and international organizations have repeatedly reported serious restrictions on civic space. Human rights defenders, climate and environmental advocates, journalists, bloggers and union leaders face widespread criminalization, often through vague legislation that violates their right to freedom of expression, among others. By the end of 2023, at least 100 defenders were detained on false charges, such as ‘conducting propaganda against the state’ or ‘abusing democratic freedoms’. The government restricts protests, controls the media, limits freedom of expression on social media, and has enacted legislation that curtails CSO activities.
When the JETP agreement was signed, human rights organizations had already publicly raised concerns about the criminalization of environmental and climate leaders in Vietnam. Yet, several DFIs and the international Partners Group pushed forward with their plans, despite a context in which fulfilling commitments to stakeholder engagement and participation is infeasible.