This Climate Public Expenditure and Investment Review (CPEIR) for 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta pilots the use of the Guidelines on Classification of Public Investment for Climate Change and Green Growth (CC&GG)1 issued by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). The objectives of the CPEIR were: to pilot the MPI Guidelines; to present data on expenditure related to CC≫ to support the integration of CC&GG into planning and budgeting; and to support the monitoring and reporting tasks in Vietnam’s Plan for Implementation of the Paris Agreement.

The support for integration of CC&GG into planning and budgeting involves two key tasks. Firstly, the CPEIR presents trends in CC&GG investment which allows government to check that these trends are consistent with the priority given to CC&GG in national and sectoral policy and to adjust budgets to increase (or reduce) the priority given to CC&GG, if necessary. Secondly, the classification provides a framework within which the design and appraisal of investment can take CC&GG into account.

At present, about 30 countries in the world have undertaken a CPEIR, with a growing focus on the subnational level. In Vietnam, the focus on the provincial level reflects the fact that many of the most important CC&GG investments are managed at the provincial level. The investment data used in the review has been compiled from two main sources: the Medium-Term Public Investment Plans (MTIPs) for 2016-2020 for each province2; and provincial capital reports on actual disbursement for 2015, 2016 and 2017. Other sources of evidence used in the assessment include: the Climate Change Action Plan; the Green Growth Action Plan; and various strategies and resolutions on sustainable development in the Mekong Delta.

In order to classify projects according to their contribution to CC&GG, the CPEIR relied mainly on project approval decisions and other project documents. However, these were sometimes difficult to obtain and some projects were classified on the basis of their title and the knowledge of local officials. The data was provided by general planning departments; appraisal divisions of provincial departments of planning; and other departments and agencies in the Mekong Delta provinces.