Webinar: Reducing Carbon Emissions in the Sugar Industry: From Field Trials to Scalability

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is becoming a global trend and a mandatory requirement for production sectors, especially as major markets increasingly link environmental criteria with trade. Mechanisms such as the EU's CBAM are exerting direct pressure on high-emission sectors, forcing businesses to transform if they wish to remain competitive.

Vietnam has made strong commitments at COP26, including the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, reducing methane emissions, and promoting renewable energy. Domestically, the legal framework for emission reduction is gradually being completed, with requirements for inventory and the development of emission reduction roadmaps for economic sectors.

In this context, the sugar industry, a significant agricultural processing sector, is facing extensive transformation requirements. At the webinar “Reducing Carbon Emissions in Vietnam's Sugar Industry – From Field Trials to Scaling Up” organized by the Agri-forestry Policy Research Network on the afternoon of April 20, 2026, Dr. Cao Anh Duong, Director of the Sugarcane Research Institute, emphasized that emission reduction is no longer an option but has become a condition for the industry's survival and development in the context of integration.

Current Situation and Challenges

Emissions across the entire value chain

Emissions in the sugar industry occur throughout the entire supply chain, including:

• Cultivation: use of fertilizers, fuel, and biomass burning
• Harvesting and transportation: fuel consumption
• Processing: electricity consumption and waste treatment

Notably, according to the analyses presented, sugarcane cultivation accounts for the largest proportion of emissions (approximately 76%), while processing only accounts for about 12%. This indicates that the focus of emission reduction needs to be placed at the household farm level and in raw material areas.

Industry structure still has many limitations

The Vietnamese sugar industry currently still exhibits characteristics such as:

• Small-scale, fragmented production
• Loose links between businesses and farmers
• Lack of clear benefit-sharing mechanisms

According to Dr. Cao Anh Duong, the biggest bottleneck is not just technology but the structure of supply chain linkages, where farmers are often in a weak position and prone to contract breaches.

High-emission production practices and technology

Some common practices still contribute to increased emissions:

• Burning sugarcane leaves before and after harvest
• Intensive use of chemical fertilizers
• Energy-intensive processing technology

Furthermore, the current value chain primarily focuses on sugar products, while by-products have not been effectively utilized.

Market pressure and competition

The industry is facing significant pressure from:

• Competition from cheap imported sugar
• Fluctuating input costs
• Increasingly high demands for emissions and ESG

In this context, Dr. Cao Anh Duong commented that if they do not transform towards emission reduction, businesses risk losing markets and facing difficulties in accessing capital.

Opportunities and initiatives from practice

Despite facing many challenges, the sugar industry has significant advantages:

• Sugarcane has large biomass and high carbon absorption
• High proportion of by-products (bagasse, molasses, filter mud)
• Potential for developing biomass energy and circular economy

The discussions at the webinar revealed that several emission reduction initiatives in the sugar industry have been implemented on a pilot scale, with the participation of domestic enterprises and international partners. One notable model is the emission-reducing sugarcane cultivation project implemented by Lam Son Sugar Group (LASUCO) in collaboration with Idemitsu Kosan Group (Japan) and international consultancy Sagri/SAFGRI. The initiatives being implemented focus on the following main groups of solutions:

• Sugarcane cultivation towards emission reduction through adjusting farming practices, optimizing fertilizer use, and changing biomass burning habits
• Improving efficiency in the supply chain to reduce fuel consumption, aiming to optimize the organization of raw material supply chains
• Utilizing by-products and biomass for power generation, providing energy for processing, and using by-products in production activities
• Measuring and managing emissions in the production chain, aiming to build a database for monitoring and evaluating emissions

Current pilot models are primarily project-based, with the goal of testing emission reduction approaches in actual production, while also serving as a basis for considering broader applicability in the future.

Scalability and recommendations

The discussions at the webinar showed that emission reduction initiatives in the sugar industry are currently being implemented on a pilot scale, focusing on testing solutions under actual production conditions. These models initially focus on adjusting farming practices, optimizing the supply chain, and strengthening emission measurement, thereby forming an emission reduction approach across the entire value chain. However, the scalability of these models depends on several conditions mentioned in the webinar:

• Production organization and supply chain linkages: The sugar industry currently features small-scale, fragmented production, and unstable linkages between farmers and businesses, making the consistent application of emission reduction practices challenging.
• Emission characteristics concentrated in cultivation: With the largest proportion of emissions stemming from sugarcane cultivation areas, scaling up solutions largely depends on the ability of household farms to change practices.
• Supply chain organization and management capacity: Solutions related to transportation, processing, and by-product utilization require the participation of businesses and coordination throughout the entire chain.
• Requirements for emission measurement and inventory: Pilot initiatives have initially implemented emission inventories, but expansion requires appropriate monitoring systems and data.

In this context, pilot models are considered a practical basis for gradually assessing broader applicability in the industry.

From the contents discussed at the webinar, some key orientations can be drawn to support the process of expanding emission reduction initiatives in the sugar industry:

• Strengthening production reorganization and supply chain linkages, focusing on consolidating the relationship between businesses and farmers in raw material areas.
• Promoting the adoption of emission-reducing farming practices, adjusting production habits in cultivation areas, and reducing emission-generating activities in cultivation.
• Supporting improved supply chain efficiency, optimizing harvesting, transportation, and processing stages. Encouraging the utilization of by-products and biomass in production.
• Strengthening capacity for emission measurement and management
• Creating conditions for pilot models to continue implementation

Emission reduction initiatives in the sugar industry are currently in the pilot phase, with an approach focused on the entire value chain. The scalability of these models depends on production organization conditions, emission characteristics, and management capacity within the industry.