Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has signed Prime Ministerial  Decision No.21/2025/QD-TTg, dated July 4, 2025, which stipulates the environmental criteria and certification process for investment projects under the green taxonomy.

According to this regulation, an investment project must meet two criteria to be certified as a green taxonomy project.

First, it must have a decision approving the results of its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, an environmental permit, or an environmental registration in accordance with environmental protection laws, except for investment projects that are legally exempt from environmental procedures.

Second, the project must be in the environmental protection sector or bring environmental benefits, and it must meet the requirements specified in Appendix I of Decision No. 21/2025/QD-TTg.

The Decision specifies that the agencies and organizations authorized to certify investment projects under the green taxonomy include:
Competent state agencies responsible for appraising and approving Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports or issuing environmental permits for investment projects, in accordance with environmental protection laws.

Independent certification bodies must meet all of the following requirements: have legal entity status as prescribed by law; be registered for business in Vietnam or established by a decision of a competent state agency; fall into one of the following categories: A business providing conformity assessment services (or having the function of conformity assessment as stipulated by law); or a business providing auditing services.

Independent certification bodies must have a management system and operational capacity that meets one of the following requirements: the national standard TCVN ISO/IEC 17029:2020 or the international standard ISO/IEC 17029:2019 on "Conformity assessment — General principles and requirements for validation and verification bodies".