IFC assists Vietnam with green textile production

The information was released at a workshop reviewing the programme on enhancing resource-efficient consumption held by IFC in Ho Chi Minh City on June 21.

The sustainable production project has been carried out in 28 enterprises and factories nationwide doing outsourcing for VF Group and Target Group over the past 18 months, mostly in the stages of cutting, sewing, dyeing, printing and laundry.

The project, worth US$9.9 million, applied measures to enhance resource-efficiency, saving US$15 million for Vietnamese enterprises thanks to reducing water, energy, chemicals consumption.

Once implementing all recommendations under the project plus an additional investment of US$26 million in new equipment, the targeted enterprises will save up to 2.8 million cubic metres of water and 562,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas per year in the next two years.

Kyle Kelhofer, Country Director of IFC for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, said the outcomes of the project in the first stage have proven economically efficient thanks to resource saving.

With fast growth in the nation’s economy as well as in the garment-textile sector, measures to enhance resource-efficiency in the garment and textile sector will open up important opportunities for Vietnam to boost sustainable growth in private sector, he said.

They will also help Vietnamese factories to save production cost while promoting resource-efficient consumption and sustainable development, he added.

IFC plans to work with other leading global brands to promote implementation of the programme in Vietnamese outsourcers.

The garment-textile sector is the second biggest earner of foreign currency of Vietnam, earning over US$27 billion from export per year.