Decoupling Analysis, Economic Structure on Environmental Pressure in Vietnam During 2008–2018

Abstract

In this research, we display the trajectories of Vietnam’s environmental pressure throughout the years during 2008–2018 and identify the underlying socioeconomic driving factors through input-output and forward-backward linkage analysis. Decoupling index (DI) and input-output analysis (IOA) indicated that mining, the extraction, and use of fossil fuels, as well as energy generation for daily life and manufacturing industries, are the primary contributors to rising environmental pressures (DI; forward and backward linkage values > 1). Vietnam’s decoupling performance has four distinct phases. Mineral and fossil fuel depletion; climate change in the short-term and long-term, and water stress indexes (the ratio of total annual freshwater withdrawal to hydrological availability) were high with 456.91%; 55.91%; 54.43%; 41.87%; and 30%, respectively during 2008–2018.