The green transition is no longer an option, but a necessity for strengthening the competitiveness of Viet Nam’s construction sector as the country works towards achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. However, experts speaking at the Viet Nam Sustainable Construction Forum (VSCF) 2026 stressed that the transition cannot be limited to green buildings or green materials. It must extend across the sector’s entire ecosystem, encompassing policy, technology, finance, supply chains and production.

Opening the forum, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Van Sinh said that the construction sector had made considerable progress in developing green buildings and environmentally friendly materials. Nevertheless, it remains a major consumer of resources and energy and generates significant emissions throughout the life cycle of buildings. He emphasized that the green transition is a consistent policy direction aimed at strengthening business competitiveness while meeting increasingly stringent requirements related to environmental, social and governance standards, the circular economy and international standards.

A green building will struggle to deliver lasting sustainable value if the materials and products used to construct it continue to be manufactured through resource-intensive and high-emission production models. This was among the perspectives raised at the forum, where experts highlighted the need to extend the green transition from individual buildings to the construction sector’s entire value chain.

At the forum, Dr. Nguyen Tram Anh, National Project Manager of the Global Eco-Industrial Parks Programme in Viet Nam (GEIPP Viet Nam) at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), shared experience in developing eco-industrial parks as an approach to greening the manufacturing sector.

According to Dr. Nguyen Tram Anh, eco-industrial parks promote resource efficiency, cleaner production, the circular economy and industrial symbiosis to reduce the consumption of energy, water and raw materials, as well as emissions generated during production. In particular, the transition towards eco-industrial parks can help unlock opportunities for construction materials to be reused among enterprises—an approach already being implemented in the project’s pilot industrial parks. She noted, however, that additional technical standards are needed to enable industrial by-products to be used as inputs for the construction sector, together with supportive policies to facilitate this transition.

This perspective was consistent with the broader direction highlighted by other speakers at the forum, who viewed the green transition as an economy-wide effort requiring the participation of government, businesses, the scientific community and international organizations. Such cooperation is needed to advance technological innovation, green materials, green finance and sustainable supply chains.

As Viet Nam promotes the development of a circular economy, its experience with eco-industrial parks shows that the construction sector’s green transition begins not only with buildings, but also with the places where construction materials and products are manufactured. Greening the production sector can therefore serve as an important link between industrial manufacturing and the construction sector’s sustainable development objectives.