Fostering low-carbon industrial parks in Vietnam: establishment and application of an index system for Trang Bang Industrial Park

In recent years, Vietnam has experienced urbanization and industrialization, leading to potential air pollution and climate change risks. To reduce these negative consequences of economic development, Vietnam has promoted a low-carbon economy (LCE) by setting many goals for green growth, air pollution reduction, and increasing the absorption capacity of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in many industrial sectors. However, there is still a lack of a specified policy to promote these goals systematically. This study proposes a set of criteria that could be used to evaluate and certify low-carbon industrial parks (LCIPs). The criteria were developed using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), expert opinion, data normalization, and carbon emission calculation. The set of criteria includes five groups of indicators with eighteen criteria for evaluating LCIPs, which can be applied in Vietnam’s contexts. Using such an index system to Trang Bang IP in the period 2016–2020 as a case study, the results show that the Trang Bang has yet to meet the criteria of LCIPs, particularly in terms of energy consumption and GHGs emission.