An Approach for Prioritising Climate Change Mitigation Measures: A Case Study in Ho Chi Minh City45246

An Approach for Prioritising Climate Change Mitigation Measures: A Case Study in Ho Chi Minh City Doan Quang Tri(1),(*), Pham Thanh Long(2), Vuong Xuan Hoa(3), Ngo Thanh Tam(1) (1) Vietnam Journal of Hydrometeorology, Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration, Hanoi, Vietnam (2) Sub-Institute of Hydrometeorology and Climate Change, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (3) Institute of Hydrometeorology and Climate Change, Hanoi, Vietnam * Correspondence: doanquangtrikttv@gmail.com Abstract: Prioritizing climate change mitigation measures could help to identify most feasible or most nationally appropriated mitigation actions This process can also provide important inputs for the development of national climate change strategies or policies The paper applies Delphi method to prioritize criteria for potential climate change mitigation technology in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam The consultation process has been done with 10 experts in only two cycle to reach Kendall (W) value over 0.5 Then, 21 selected criteria have been used for Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) in prioritizing mitigation options in energy, industrial processes, road transport, residential, commercial, aviation and waste sectors in Ho Chi Minh City Mitigation options with highest scores will be proposed in Ho Chi Minh City’ Action Plan to implement Paris Agreement on Climate Change Keywords: Climate change mitigation; Delphi method; MRV; Ho Chi Minh City Introduction Climate change brings new perspectives to important global challenges relevant to food security and rural livelihoods Incorporating climate change issues into the development is a necessary step of overall development policy, but it is not sufficient In other words, sustainable development policies must also be reformulated to include important temporal and spatial scales that have become relevant to climate change Actions to limit damage from climate change need to be implemented now to be effective Mitigation actions involve the direct reduction of anthropogenic emissions or enhancement of carbon sinks that are necessary for limiting long-term climate damage Adaptation is necessary to limit potential risks of the unavoidable residual climate change now and in the future More importantly, there are significant differences like adaptation and mitigation actions In September 2015, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), encompassing national GHG emission reduction target for the period of 2020-2030, as part of the global effort to reach an agreement on post-2020 climate regime In this context, Ho Chi Minh City is conducting GHG emission inventory and developing Action Plan for the Implementation of Paris Agreement under the support of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) To develop the plan to implement the Paris Agreement, it is necessary to assess the climate change mitigation actions which are appropriate to the circumstances, development priorities and resources in Ho Chi Minh City Previously, studies on evaluation and prioritization of mitigation activities in Vietnam used to use reference indicators from international reports and were based on subjective assessments of experts Therefore, this paper will research by applying Delphi method and MCDA to establish and select criteria for prioritizing mitigation options in Ho Chi Minh City The application of the Delphi method will include a three-phase analysis process which will be used before, during and after consultation The consultation process is carried out in two stages In the first stage, a series of open-ended questions on important issues of mitigation options were developed and sent to the experts to find out the criteria that could prioritize nationally appropriate mitigation actions Because this study has been prevalent in the world, the study will obtain the results of the previous studies and summarize general evaluation criteria Besides, resulting evaluation criteria which are specific and appropriate to the national conditions will be consulted by experts on climate change mitigation After reviewing the evaluation criteria, the questionnaire on the importance and suitability of the criteria will be sent to the experts for evaluation until the consensus index is reached (Kendall (W) ≥ 0.5) (Musa et al., 2015) Apart from the main goal is climate change mitigation, the climate change mitigation actions should ensure the sustainability of the environment, economy, and social development The set of evaluation criteria, therefore, needs to fully work towards these goals Currently, there are no official documents that specify a globally accepted standard for selecting the actions that are appropriate to national conditions (NAMAs) to receive international assistance Based on the theoretical basis together with results and experience of international scientific research experiences (Massa et al., 2008; Posada, 2009; Asahi Glass, 2013; Malaysia Gas Association, 2014; EX Research Institute, 2012; Pham et al., 2019) as well as the uniqueness, importance and independence to ensure the outcome are legitimate The research team has collected, synthesized and drawn out the criteria that play a significant role in identifying and developing climate change mitigation actions by following the national conditions (NAMA) which are approved and implemented by different developing countries members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change The objective of assessing climate change mitigation measures is to identify activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions yet still in line with national conditions These activities will be meaningful to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring economic efficiency, improving the environment, social security and sustainable development of nations Methodology 2.1 Study area Ho Chi Minh City is a city with the biggest economy and population size, the city itself has a large amount of GHG emissions but it also contributes significantly to GHG emissions reduction nationwide (Figure 1) However, the management of GHG emissions in the city has been ineffective so far, the officials' understanding ofHG is still limited to some extent From 2015 to 2017, Ho Chi Minh City has actively participated in supporting planning and action implementations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with national conditions (SPI-NAMA Project) which is launched by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) The project has achieved prominent results such as guidance on GHG emissions inventory and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of GHG emission reduction As for GHG emission reduction activities, by the end of 2018, the industry and trade of Ho Chi Minh City have primarily focused on dealing with emission reduction in the energy sector These activities have contributed greatly to the reduction of GHG emissions from industrial activities in the city and the country as a whole Recent GHG inventory results from Ho Chi Minh City indicate that the main sources of emissions include: (i) Road transport; (ii) Industrial production and construction; (iii) Residential buildings; (iv) Commercial buildings, public administration buildings and infrastructure; (v) Aviation; (vi) Solid waste dumped into landfills; and (vii) Domestic wastewater Therefore, mitigation activities of Ho Chi Minh City will focus on these main causes Figure The location of study area in Vietnam 2.1 Assessing mitigation actions The assessment of climate change mitigation measures will provide important input for developing a national climate change strategy in developing countries like Vietnam This assessment can also contribute to capacity building and awareness-raising in developing countries on environmentally sustainable technologies, and increase resilience and reduce vulnerability to the effects of climate change The assessment also creates a chance to understand the advantages, disadvantages, and barriers when deploying these technologies The assessment will provide an overview of solutions or technologies which are suitable for a region or a country, from which facilitating programs or initiatives support of International assistance on climate change mitigation When doing the assessment, the selelcted technologies must be appropriate to the conditions and development strategies of the countries Factors consistent with national development priorities will ensure that transferred technology and national resources will be used efficiently Therefore, the description of national development needs and priorities is necessary before moving on to the technology assessment These priorities will also be shaped by the long-term social and economic trends in Vietnam, such as increased industrialization and urbanization because these priorities will have an impact on final technology options An important principle when developing climate change mitigation policies is to predict or forecast changes in future climate conditions From this, it is possible to determine the impact of climate change on energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions To assess mitigation techniques, information on climate change scenarios should be collected and analyzed before conducting a technology assessment This is one of the fundamental factors for prioritizing climate change mitigation technologies by following national conditions The priority evaluation process of climate change mitigation technologies in the study follows the multi-criteria analysis approach described by Dodgson et al (2009) and the Guidelines for Prioritizing Mitigation Technology of UNEP DTU Partnership (MoNRE, 2011; URC, 2011; Wrickramasinghe, 2011; URC, 2012a, 2012b) The relevant steps are shown in Figure Typically, in the report on the assessment of climate change mitigation technology in Vietnam, the identification of evaluation criteria is based on the guidance documents of international However, the criteria in the guidance are relatively common and general To assess the technology of climate change mitigation that is appropriate for Vietnam, specific criteria need to be developed for the context in Vietnam Therefore, the study has applied the Delphi method to formulate evaluation criteria to prioritize climate change mitigation technology for Vietnam (1) Analyze the national context (2) Determine technological solutions (3) Determine evaluation criterias (4) Consult and score criterias (5) Evaluate weight (6) Calculate the score for solutions (7) Analyze the results of priority technologies Figure Logical framework for prioritizing climate change mitigation technologies (1) National context analysis An analysis of the national context is aimed at identifying national development goals and priorities, such as socio-economic, energy, and development goals and plans, as well as response to climate change Also, this analysis also reviews and analyze development plans of different economic sectors Besides, information concerning scenarios on climate change, sea-level rise and the impacts of climate change on industries have also been synthesized to provide the foundation for choosing suitable mitigation technology on a national scale (2) Identify technology solutions to climate change mitigation The identification of technology solutions for climate change mitigation can be referred to reports of greenhouse gas reduction scenarios in the world or in the country where the assessment is conducted If these reports are not available, consult sources such as Climate Techkiwi and the guidebook published by UNEP DTU including transport sector, construction and agriculture (in terms of mitigation) and coastal areas, water and agriculture (in terms of adaptation); or IPCC evaluation reports (AR3, AR4, AR5) should be taken into consideration Countries that have developed mitigation scenarios can be referred to reports such as the National Communication on Climate Change and Nationally Determined Contribution The assessment of mitigation technology solutions mentioned above will help policymakers have a foundation to build a roadmap to implement commitments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions Moreover, this also provides the private sector with information about potential, relevant and feasible solutions in that country (3) Determining evaluation criteria To identify the criteria, the study has applied the Delphi method Accordingly, the criteria will be developed through the consultancy of experts in the field of GHG mitigation until a consensus is reached Through the consultation, the main issues or factors that affect the selected technology have been clarified Besides, the experts have also proposed criteria that satisfy national development priorities These criteria can be organized into sub-criteria in different levels to display the link between development priorities (4) Consulting and marking Criteria The technology will be implemented based on selected criteria Firstly, a performance matrix is developed, in which the rating scale can vary for each criterion For example, capital costs can be listed directly in monetary units, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in tons of CO2, and qualitative criteria can be assessed on the Likert scale (or similar scale) The data of quantitative criteria will be standardized into a mark for each type of technology Meanwhile, qualitative criteria will be assessed on a scale of 1-5 with increasing importance The information for evaluation and scoring of the criteria is compiled from national research reports on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and consultations from experts in this field (5) Weight evaluation The chosen criteria to evaluate the priority of each technology may not be equally important to reach the common goal Therefore, the given weights to each criterion will reflect their relative importance in the choice of technology options For example, whether the cost factor is more important than greenhouse gas emissions reduction when choosing technology in the energy sector? If it is, then how much the cost will be? This step aims to assign quantitative values to the relative importance of the criteria There are many different ways to assign weights, such as using consultations or statistics However, within the scope of the study, the weights of the criteria are determined by standardizing the results of expert consultations in the “Determining evaluation criteria” step (6) Marking technology solutions All the information and views collected in the above steps are merged, and several technologies are selected for more detailed analysis Marking these technology solutions can be done using the Multi-Criteria Analysis Model (MCDA) provided by UDP The technology options are then sorted according to their total score, and two or three technologies with the best score will be selected for further analysis by SWOT method to further clarify the difficulties and advantages as implementation 2.2 Develop criteria for evaluating priority options 2.2.1 The Delphi method The Delphi method is an interactive multi-stage forecasting method relying on experts to identify technical developments and trends Its objective is to structure complex group opinions (Rauch, 1979) and to develop consensus on future developments among a set of experts participating in the panel (Linstone and Turoff, 2002) The method was developed by the RAND Corporation to generate scenarios for long-range strategic planning in the 1950-1960s (Gordon and Helmer-Hirschberg, 1964) and became a widely accepted approach (Kameoka et al., 2004) There are two ways to apply the method: it will be implemented radiationally or implemented for stages (Linstone and Turoff, 2002) The method has been applied in many fields ranging from economy, environment, sustainable development, land use, agriculture, transportation, nursing, tourism to climate change Bunting (2008) used the Delphi method to facilitate interactive participation and reach a consensus on sustainable aquaculture development (Bunting, 2008) For the transport sector, a combination of the Delphi method and the Bayesian Network Model is used to predict highway accidents in developing countries (Mbakweet al., 2016) Delbari et al (2016) used the 2-stage Delphi method together with the hierarchical analysis model (AHP) to identify and prioritize important indicators for aviation services The future of the 3D printing industry is also developed by using the Delphi method 18 forecasts have been developed to provide future scenarios for the 3D printing industry (Jiang et al., 2017) Le et al (2015) uses the Delphi method in combination with the DPSIR (Divers- Pressures-States-Impacts-Response) (EU, 1999; Martins et al., 2012; Elliott, 2014; Gari et al., 2015; Smith et al., 2016) to evaluate climate change response local communities in coastal areas (Figure 3) Questions were asked to assess the level of consensus among members of the consultative group The Kendall value is then calculated after the consensus reached 0.681, the high level of consensus among the members The study indicates that sustainable ecosystem development and new rural planning are considered appropriate local adaptation measures in the study area Nguyen et al (2018) and the research team use the Delphi method to develop a set of sustainable development indicators focusing on environmental and health fields, applied to Quang Tri province Driving Forces Basic sectoral trends, e.g in energy generation, transport, industry, agriculture, tourism Pressure Human activities directly affecting the environment, e.g carbon dioxide or methane emissions State Observable changes of the environment, e.g rising global temperatures Response … of society to solve the problem, e.g research on solar energy, energy taxes Impact Effects of a changed environment, e.g decrease in agricultural production, huricanes, floods Figure Driving forces-Pressure-State-Impact-Response modified from original EU framework (EU, 1999) a) Steps before consultation: Step Selection of expert groups related to the Delphi method The number of experts selected to participate in the consultation as to using the Delphi method is 10 people in the field of climate change mitigation from the Department of Climate Change - Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change, Energy Institute, Energy and Environment Consultancy Joint Stock Company, Institute of Agricultural Environment, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Industry and Trade and so on Step Summary of evaluation criteria for prioritizing climate change mitigation technology worldwide according to the technical guidelines of UNEP DTU, IPCC, UNDP; guidelines on assessing and selecting solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with national conditions (NAMAs); and consultation of experts on some specific conditions in Vietnam The indicators include 04 groups (1) Climate indicators (reducing GHG emissions): The main objective of these indicators is to reduce GHG emissions in each sector The criteria to consider are: + GPT1: GHG emissions intensity (GHG emissions per product unit) + GPT2: Potential to reduce GHG emissions (2) Benefit indicators (environmental index, social index, economic index): + Objective (for the environment): Reduce air pollution + Objective (for the environment): Reduce soil pollution + Objective (for the environment): Reduce water pollution + Objective (for the environment): sustainable natural resource management + Objective (for the society): more job opportunities + Objective (for the society): improve the quality of life and the health of workers + Objective 3(for the society): raise public awareness of environmental protection + Objective (for the economy): Contribute to a green and sustainable economic transformation + Objective (for the economy): Scale of investment capital + Objective (for the economy): Effective investment + Objective (for the economy): Payback period + Objective (for the economy): Infrastructure development (3) Indicators of the national/local context: + PT1: have been able to be implemented in the country/locality + PT2: Consistent with national/local development policies + PT3: policies and support mechanisms (4) Measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) indicators: + MRV1: A system of GHG emissions monitoring and sustainable development can be established + MRV2: Basic calculations can be developed to quantify GHG emissions reductions and sustainable development + MRV3: reports on the progress of GHG emissions reduction and sustainable development + MRV4: ensure the accuracy and quality of the information reported Step Develop criteria table and evaluation criteria matrix according to the Delphi method b) Consultation: Step Applying the Delphi method at round Working with experts to consult and thereby assess the level of agreement with the construction index The criteria will be ranked from low to high with increasing importance Table shows an example of a matrix that evaluates the importance and appropriateness of criteria Table Matrix of criteria evaluation according to Delphi method Criterial Criterial Criterial Criterial Criterial Criterial Expert 1 Expert Expert … … Step Data analysis at round After collecting data using the Delphi Method, Kendal coefficient can be used to assess the suitability of the indicator The level of consensus is scored according to the thresholds of 0.0-0.1; 0.1-0.3; 0.3-0.5; 0.5-0.7; 0.7-1.0 which are equivalent to a very weak level of consensus; weak; medium; strong; very strong The Kendall index is calculated as follows: When there are two values x and y whose value corresponds to a set of values of the other sign in the form of statistical distribution, the Kendall coefficient can be used to assess the correlation and consensus Therefore, experts are the independent variable x and the variable y is rated according to increasing importance The Kendall coefficient (W) is calculated by the following formula W S2 k (N  N) 12 (1) where N is the number of elements y (the index number); k is the number of elements x (the number of experts) W is in the range N S2   (R j  R j )2 (2) j1 N R Rj  j N (3) where R is the sum of each element of y; Rj is the average of the sum of these elements Step Applying Delphi method at round In case the Kendall coefficient (W) is greater than 0.5 in the first round, the evaluation process ends immediately in step This means that the experts agreed with the proposed index group However, if the Kendall coefficient (W) is less than 0.5 in the first round, there will be disagreements between experts The evaluation process will be repeated until the Kendall coefficient (W) is greater than 0.5 c) After consultation: After the data is collected in the final round, the result is analyzed The weighted value of the criteria will be determined based on the results of rankings evaluated by experts The results are summarized and analyzed, and a summary report with conclusions are then sent to the experts for storing and reference After analyzing and consulting domestic experts on 04 groups of indicators mentioned above, the author will synthesize 21 important indicators of these 04 groups and set up a questionnaire to conduct consultations with 10 experts Through round of consultation, the importance level of criteria set by experts from 1-21 is exactly equal to the number of aggregated indicators With the data collected from the table above, the Kendall coefficient is calculated as stated in chapter and gives a result of 0.57 With a relatively strong coefficient of more than 0.5, the expert group has a high consensus with the proposed set of indicators, so there is no need to conduct the round This result also helps to identify the indicators of the four selected groups that reach the highest consensus, thereby reducing the set of indicators and increasing the accuracy in prioritizing climate change mitigation solutions in the energy sector related to Vietnam's NDC in the next step of applying MCDA method The expert group unanimously agreed on the MRV index group, all the indicators in this group achieved the highest score compared to the indicators in the remaining groups, so all the indicators in this group were selected as the indicators And, a mitigation solution is considered feasible and has the opportunity to implement successfully and effectively when it can measure, report and verify 2.2.2 Applying criteria to assess and select priority mitigation solutions in Ho Chi Minh City Based on the built-in index framework, the calculation of the GHG emission reduction indicator is applied based on the experience of calculating the technological assessment of climate change according to instructions of the IPCC and the combined results of the component indicators, and in each component, the index is a set of indicators MCDAI  a.GPT  b.KT  c.XH  d.MT  e.PT  g.MRV (4) where MCDAI is an index to select and prioritize activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; GPT is the Component Index - Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; KT is the component index - Economic benefits; Social is the component index - Social benefits; MT is a component index - Environmental benefits; PT is the Component Index - Development benefits; MRV is the component index - Possibility of MRV; a, b, c, d, e, g are weights of component indexes and indicators in each component index: a + b + c + d + e + g = The value of indexes is then determined by experts Accordingly, experts in the field of GHG emission reduction in the energy sector will score component indicators (GPT, XH, KT, MT, PT, and MRV) with a scale from - with increasing relevance and priority The average score of the component indicators will be used to evaluate the priority Results of applying the criteria to the evaluation and priority over mitigation options in Ho Chi Minh city The weights of the component indicators were determined during the implementation of the Delphi method The results of the expert evaluation of the importance and priority of each component indicator will be used to calculate the weight presented in Table Thus, according to the results of experts in the Transport sector, there are 05 solutions with the highest scores, namely T1 - Petrol used Biology in transportation (3.72), T9 - LED lights for urban roads (3.38), T12 - Electric/hybrid vehicles in road transport (3.30), T11 - Vehicles convenient use of natural compressed air in road traffic (3.12) and T2 Conversion of mode of passenger transport from individuals to urban railways (3.11); In industry, there are 08 solutions that are most appreciated, namely I22 - Recovering biogas for boiler in beverage industry (2.89), I14 - Waste heat recovery (WHR) from the drying process of paper in pulp and paper production (2.52), I7 - Use of vertical continuous kilns (VSBK) in brick production (2.38), I1 - Waste heat recovery (WHR) from cement production (2.37), I20 - Using floor-based cooling systems in the beverage industry (2.37), I5 Installation of inverter motors (VFD) (2.36) , I4 - Reducing furnace heat loss (2.25) and I10 Low pressure central cleaning system for pumping plants in pulp and paper production (2.07); in the field of civil buildings, there are 03 solutions assessed on 03 points, namely R4 - Using solar water heater (3.43), R3 - Using high-performance civil lighting (lights) lightemitting diodes (LED) and compact fluorescent lamps (3.31) and R1 - Using inverter air conditioners (IAC) (3.05); In the field of commercial buildings, there are 02 solutions and both are evaluated at a fairly good level with C2 - Applying green building solutions (Multi Air Conditioner System, LED lights, 2-layer glass, High-efficiency heat insulation kit) ( 3.41) and C1 - Use of multi air-conditioning systems in commercial buildings (2.93); The aviation sector has 01 solution and is rated at an average level, which is A1 - Switching from the use of auxiliary engines to the airport ground source (1.95); Waste sector has 05 solutions that are highly rated at more than points, namely W4 - Anaerobic treatment of organic waste, recovering methane for heat and electricity production (4.04), W1 - Organic fertilizer production (4.02), W2 - Landfill gas collection for electricity and heat generation (3.59), W6 - Electricity production from garbage (3.38) and W3 - Solid waste recycling ( 3.21) These are also 24 priority solutions and recommendations for implementation in the period of 2020 2030 for Ho Chi Minh City Table Assessing the importance of the evaluation indicators to prioritize climate change mitigation solutions for Ho Chi Minh City Criterial MT1 MT2 MT3 MT4 XH1 XH2 XH3 KT1 KT2 14 15 16 17 19 20 14 15 10 13 5 8 8 15 13 10 18 12 Total 80 Variance Weight KT3 KT4 KT5 GPT1 GPT2 PT1 PT2 PT3 MRV1 MRV2 MRV3 MRV4 10 18 11 19 12 20 21 13 10 11 12 21 13 14 15 16 17 18 10 16 11 17 18 19 20 12 21 13 14 15 16 17 11 12 18 19 20 21 19 11 12 13 14 15 10 16 20 17 21 18 10 11 12 16 17 18 13 14 19 20 21 15 14 15 10 16 17 11 12 13 18 19 20 21 16 17 18 10 19 11 20 21 12 13 14 14 10 15 11 16 12 17 18 19 20 21 13 14 19 15 20 16 21 17 10 11 33 54 44 66 61 86 125 151 54 117 88 155 114 141 113 153 191 164 165 155 900 5929 3136 4356 1936 2401 576 225 1681 3136 49 484 2025 16 961 1849 6561 2916 3025 2025 0.035 0.014 0.023 0.019 0.029 0.026 0.037 0.054 0.065 0.023 0.051 0.038 0.067 0.049 0.061 0.049 0.066 0.083 0.071 0.071 0.067 Expert score Table Results of evaluation of priority options for potential mitigation measures for Ho Chi Minh City Criterial MT1 MT2 MT3 MT4 XH1 XH2 XH3 KT1 KT2 KT3 KT4 KT5 GPT1 GPT2 PT1 PT2 PT3 MRV1 MRV2 MRV3 MRV4 Total score Solution T1 0 4 2 5 5 5 3.72 T2 0 4 4 4 5 3 3 3.11 T3 0 2 2 4 4 3 3 2.42 T4 0 2 3 2 2 3 3 2.65 T5 0 0 0 3 2 3 3 2.50 T6 0 0 0 3 2 3 3 2.50 T7 0 0 3 2 5 2 2 2.52 T8 0 0 1 4 1 1 1.59 T9 0 0 5 4 4 4 3.38 T10 0 0 4 0 5 4 1 1 2.73 T11 0 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 3.12 T12 0 3 4 4 4 4 3.30 I1 0 0 2 3 3 3 2.37 I2 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 1.67 I3 0 0 0 2 2 2 1.99 I4 0 0 0 3 3 5 3 2 2 2.25 I5 0 0 0 4 5 2 2 2.36 I6 0 0 0 2 3 1 1 1.84 Conclusions and discussion The results of the research show that the application of Delphi and MCDA methods will provide the evaluation process of prioritizing options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a more scientific basis The research used Delphi method to develop a set of priority evaluation indicators, the process of implementing Delphi method is described in steps with the aim of increasing the accuracy in evaluating solutions and shortening the set of indicators There are 21 important indicators in groups: (1) Reducing emissions; (2) Economy; (3) Society; (4) Environment; (5) Development; and (6) Measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) The application of MCDA method in the next step gives the evaluation results to prioritize the selection of solutions to reduce GHG emissions for the transport sector; solutions in the field of industry; solutions in the field of civil buildings; solutions in the field of commercial buildings; solution in the field of aviation; and solutions in the field of solid waste treatment Comparing the research results with the results of Vietnam’s National Notice 2, it is shown that the technological priority is different at each time Based on the practical situation and experience, technologies will be prioritized for development in accordance with the conditions, potential and national orientation The results of the paper, a number of recommendations are made for further improvement in the future: (1) Firstly, in terms of approach, the set of indexes built in the framework of the article should be further studied and updated in the coming time to suit the practical situation of Vietnam; (2) Secondly, in terms of research methodology: due to the limited time and conditions, the process of implementing Delphi method has not been consulted by more experts in different fields related to climate change and energy sustainability, the more opinions it gathered, the more accurate the results of the consultations were confirmed; as well as in the development of a set of priority indicators for GHG emission reduction solutions for different sectors, if the first round consultation is conducted with open questions, the results may be more accurate instead of using results of previous international studies Acknowledgments This study is supported by the funding of the national project titled “The study and establishment of Monitoring-Reporting-Verification (MRV) system for climate change response activities in Vietnam”, grant number: BDKH.32/16-20 References Asahi Glass Co., Ltd (2013) Energy Saving Glass Windows for Buildings (Report of JCM Feasibility Study) Airport Ground Power Corporation EDESUS2019, FOR PEER REVIEW https://edesus.ueb.edu.vn Bunting, S.W (2008) Horizontally integrated aquaculture development: Exploring consensus on constraints and opportunities with a stakeholder Delphi Aquaculture International, 16(2): 153-169 Dodgson, J.S., Spackman, M., Pearman, A., Phillips, L.D (2009) Multi-criteria analysis: a manual Department for Communities and Local Government: London Available online: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/12761/1/Multi-criteria_Analysis.pdf Delbari, S.A., Siew, I.N., Aziz, Y.A., Ho, J.A (2016) An investigation of key competitiveness indicators and drivers of full-service airlines using Delphi and AHP techniques Journal of Air Transport Management, 52: 23-34 Delphi (2013) Worldwide Emissions Standards Available online: https://delphi.com/pdf/emissions/DelphiPassenger-Car-Light-Duty-Truck-EmissionsBrochure-2012-2013.pdf Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Japan Carbon Finance, Ltd (2013) Installation of Low Green House Gases (GHG) emitting rolling stock cars in metro system (India), (CDM Monitoring report) Avaliable online: https://cdm.unfccc.int/Projects/DB/RWTUV1190204766.13/view EX Research Institute Ltd (2012) Introduction of Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) of Municipal Solid Waste and Landfill Gas Capture, Flaring and Utilization (Lao PDR), (Reports of JCM/BOCM FS) EU (1999) Towards environmental pressure indicators for the EU First Edition 1999 European Union pp 181 Elliott, M., Cutts, N.D., Trono, A (2014) A typology of marine and estuarine hazards and risks as vectors of change: a review for vulnerable coasts and their management Ocean & Coastal Management, 93, 88-99 doi: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2014.03.014 Fukuda, K., Kato, M (2018) Low Carbon Technology Assessment for Vietnam’s NDC Implementation Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) Department of Climate Change JICA Project to Support the Planning and Implementation of NAMAs in MRV Manner (SPI-NAMA) Avaliable online: https://www.jica.go.jp/project/english/vietnam/036/materials/c8h0vm0000cywcm4att/lc_tech_summary_en.pdf Gordon, T.J., Helmer-Hirschberg, O (1964) Report on a Long-range Forecasting Study, Santa Monica, CA Gari, S.R., Newton, A., Icely, J.D (2015) A review of the application and evolution of the DPSIR framework with an emphasis on coastal social-ecological systems Ocean & Coastal Management, 103, 63-77 doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2014.11.013 Jiang, R., Kleer, R., Piller, F.T (2017) Predicting the future of additive manufacturing: A Delphi study on economic and societal implications of 3D printing for 2030 Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 117: 84-97 Kameoka, A., Yokoo, Y., Kuwahara, T (2004) A challenge of integrating technology foresight and assessment in industrial strategy development and policymaking Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 71 (6): 579-598 Linstone, H.A., Turoff, M (Eds.) 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