Vietnam and Emergent Kick Off Historic ERPA Negotiations in Hanoi to Accelerate Forest Conservation and Climate Finance

3^rd August | HANOI, VIETNAM The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE) of Vietnam, and Emergent, Coordinator of the LEAF Coalition, have formally launched bilateral negotiations in Hanoi for a historic Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA).

Running from August 3 to August 7, 2026, the week-long series of bilateral negotiations marks a pivotal step toward finalizing a five-year forward contract for the purchase an estimated 5.15M tons high-integrity jurisdictional emission reductions credits. The emission reductions originate from the natural tropical forests spanning 5 provinces across Vietnam’s Central Highlands and South Coastal Central regions under the ART TREES standard.

The formal launch of negotiations was marked by a High-Level meeting hosted by the MAE Vice Minister Dr, Nguyen Quoc Tri, with active participation from Vietnam Negotiation Team, representatives of the LEAF Coalition Sovereign Embassies (Norway, Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom), and the Emergent delegation.

The agreement will represent a major milestone in Vietnam’s National Climate Strategy. Once signed, it will facilitate payments for high-integrity, jurisdictional-scale forest carbon credits verified under the rigorous ART TREES standard. This initiative will directly reward Vietnam's efforts in reducing deforestation and forest degradation while actively supporting local forest-dependent communities.

Vice Minister Dr, Nguyen Quoc Tri said:

‘Vietnam is committed to implementing robust green growth policies. Finalizing the ERPA negotiations with Emergent, Coordinator of the LEAF Coalition, this week will unlock vital international finance, directly contributing to our national target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 while protecting our rich forest biodiversity and improving local livelihoods."

Eron Bloomgarden, CEO of Emergent said:

"We are delighted to be starting these formal contract negotiations with Vietnam, and early mover in jurisdictional forest protection in Asia. LEAF sovereign donors and corporate buyers stand ready to support Vietnam’s efforts to tackle deforestation with significant levels of funding. Our teams will build on the work already done to make progress towards a robust, contract that will unlock unprecedented finance Vietnams forests. The negotiations demonstrate further strong progress for Emergent and the LEAF Coalition in Asia, following a $50 million agreement with Nepal and an MOU with Indonesia, as well as the announcement of Tencent as the first Asia-based company to sign up to LEAF." 

Following the opening session, the Vietnam Negotiation Team and the Emergent Delegation will engage in intensive bilateral negotiations over the next four days to finalize the ERPA terms. Following the negotiations, technical teams will review operational readiness and technical assistance roadmaps to ensure credit issuance in the first half of 2027.

Both Vietnam and Emergent are targeting the signing of the ERPA by the end of 2026.

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Notes to Editors

The LEAF Coalition

The LEAF Coalition aims to build a market for high-integrity REDD+ emissions reductions and removals from large-scale schemes operated by national or subnational governments (known as Jurisdictional REDD+). LEAF only purchases credits issued by ART, which meet the robust requirements of its TREES standard. This builds buyer confidence and trust by ensuring the highest levels of environmental and integrity and social safeguards, particularly for Indigenous peoples and local communities.

Emergent

Emergent is a US non-profit that serves as a transactions platform engaging between tropical forest countries and the private sector to mobilize finance to support emissions reductions from deforestation. It does this by developing and bringing practical, credible and large-scale forest protection solutions to market. Emergent serves as the coordinator of the LEAF Coalition.

ART TREES

ART is a standalone, independent program that develops and administers standardized procedures for crediting emissions reductions and removals from national and large subnational REDD+ programs. ART’s standard for the measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions reductions and removals from the forest sector – The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard, known as TREES – represents the next step in the evolution of global efforts to protect and restore tropical forests. TREES supports transformational climate action at scale, while upholding rigorous social and environmental integrity.