On September 27, Special Representative for Global Partnerships Dorothy McAuliffe signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) launching a Coalition for Climate Entrepreneurship (CCE) Hub in Hanoi, Vietnam. The launch of CCE Hub Vietnam follows President Biden's visit to Hanoi earlier this month, during which he announced a series climate-focused collaborations and emphasized deepening cooperation on climate change, clean energy, and critical and emerging technologies as part of the new U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Co-signatories and partners, Vietnam's Posts and Telecommunications Institute for Technology (PTIT) and VMO Holdings Technology Joint Stock Company (VMO), and U.S. Embassy Hanoi will support climate entrepreneurs through capital, capacity building, technical assistance, access to mentorships, and network building in early and growth stages. CCE Hubs provide a dedicated innovation space for founders and startups working on emerging sustainable solutions for clean energy, climate-smart agriculture, climate finance, climate resilience, adaptation, and recovery. The concept for standing up a CCE Hub in Hanoi came out of discussions between the Office of Global Partnerships and VMO Holdings as part of a Partnership Opportunity Delegation (POD) that Special Representative McAuliffe led to Costa Rica and Colombia in June.
CCE was launched at COP26 in Glasgow as a public-private partnership between the Department and private sector partners to address the climate crisis while contributing to the green growth of developing countries by supporting entrepreneurship around climate solutions. In February 2023, the first CCE Hub was established in Accra, Ghana, with implementing partner Arm Holdings, PLC and hosting partner Academic City College University. The Accra CCE Hub also already has begun to bring together government, private sector and academia in partnership to support Ghanaian entrepreneurs in the country's accelerating green economy.
As the site of the second CCE Hub, Vietnam demonstrates similar potential as an innovator economy with a GDP per capita that has increased 3.6 times between 2001 and 2021, according to the World Bank. CCE Hub Hanoi will support the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and shared climate mitigation, resilience, and adaptation goals.
