AMSTERDAM & HONG KONG & OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 17, 2025--
Issued today, the “ Vietnam Country Report: Macroeconomic, Socioeconomic, and Industry Analysis ” report, developed by Cascale with support from the Apparel Impact Institute (Aii), highlights the evolving macroeconomic landscape, sustainability challenges facing apparel and footwear manufacturing, and the rapid expansion of the consumer goods market in Vietnam. A strong economic outlook coupled with bold sustainability initiatives reveals a country poised to play a crucial role in global decarbonization efforts, even as tariffs threaten to put 5.5% of Vietnam's GDP at risk and raise prices for American consumers ( New York Times, April 6). Tariffs and other key topics impacting Vietnam will be on the agenda at the Cascale Forum: Ho Chi Minh City on May 14-15, as Cascale members and non-members alike – including manufacturers, leading brands, service providers, and supply chain partners – come together for an immersive event to address urgent sustainability challenges and opportunities.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250417573936/en/
The report includes critical analysis of data from Cascale’s Higg Facility Environment Module (FEM) tool, exclusively available on Worldly. It is the first in a series of actionable reports filtering Higg FEM insights through a regional lens.
In 2023, over 1,200 verified Higg FEM submissions showed coal exacerbates carbon emissions in the region: 12% of apparel and footwear facilities use coal for energy, while 94% rely on electricity purchased from Vietnam’s coal-dependent grid. Although renewable energy accounts for less than 2% of the sector’s energy use, the analysis underscores opportunities for transformation to a low-carbon economy, including through the Industry Decarbonization Roadmap (IDR) developed by Cascale and Aii.
The report shows Vietnam can couple growth with sustainable manufacturing. Vietnam’s economy is expected to grow by 6.5% in 2025, outpacing regional peers. The manufacturing sector continues to be a key driver, contributing 23.88% to GDP in 2023. Additionally, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) remains robust, reaching US$31.4 billion in the first 11 months of 2024, signaling investor confidence in Vietnam’s economic resilience. Employing around three million workers and generating an estimated US$71 billion in export revenues for 2024, the apparel and footwear sector is a vital component of Vietnam’s economy but faces significant sustainability challenges, including high energy consumption and carbon emissions. With commitments in place for a 65-70% increase in renewable energy by 2045 – reducing greenhouse gas emissions by a projected 70-80% – Vietnam is committed to supply chain decarbonization, in line with the IDR.
The report brings Cascale and Aii’s IDR into focus as a potential solution. By uniting manufacturers, brands, retailers, and stakeholders around shared goals, the IDR emphasizes collective accountability and pre-competitive collaboration to accelerate systemic change across the supply chain. With a science-based target of reducing supply chain emissions by 45% by 2030, the IDR drives measurable progress through various interventions, solutions, and programs. The IDR ensures resources are targeted, so low-carbon sourcing and other benefits can be realized. This means prioritizing action in the 10% of facilities across the textile and apparel supply chain – including some in Vietnam – that account for over 80% of global manufacturing emissions. By aligning with these initiatives, facilities in Vietnam can play a pivotal role in the global transition to a low-carbon economy.
“This isn’t merely about compliance—it’s about long-term competitiveness,” said Colin Browne, Cascale CEO. “Brands increasingly prefer suppliers who meet robust sustainability standards. Manufacturers investing in sustainability today will secure long-term brand partnerships tomorrow.”
ABOUT CASCALE
Cascale is the global nonprofit alliance empowering collaboration to drive equitable and restorative business practices in the consumer goods industry. Formerly known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Cascale owns and develops the Higg Index, which is exclusively available on Worldly, the most comprehensive sustainability data and insights platform. Cascale unites over 300 retailers, brands, manufacturers, governments, academics, and NGO/nonprofit affiliates around the globe through one singular vision: To catalyze impact at scale and give back more than we take to the planet and its people.
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Cascale issues "Vietnam Country Report: Macroeconomic, Socioeconomic, and Industry Analysis" report.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal officers dropped tear gas and sprayed eye irritant at activists Tuesday during another day of confrontations in Minneapolis, while students miles away walked out of a suburban school to protest the Trump administration's bold immigration sweeps.
Meanwhile, the fallout from the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an immigration agent reached the local U.S. Attorney's Office: At least five prosecutors have resigned amid controversy over how the U.S. Justice Department is handling the investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.
Separately, a Justice Department official said Wednesday there's no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation. An FBI probe of Renee Good's death is ongoing.
Strife between federal agents and the public continues to boil, six days since Good was shot in the head while driving off in her Honda Pilot. At one scene, gas clouds filled a Minneapolis street near where she died. A man scrubbed his eyes with snow and screamed for help after agents in a Jeep sprayed an orange irritant and drove off.
It’s common for people to boo, taunt and blow orange whistles when they spot heavily armed immigration agents passing through in unmarked vehicles or walking the streets, all part of a grassroots effort to warn the neighborhood and remind the government that they’re watching.
“Who doesn't have a whistle?” a man with a bag of them yelled.
Brita Anderson, who lives nearby and came to support neighborhood friends, said she was “incensed” to see agents in tactical gear and gas masks, and wondered about their purpose.
“It felt like the only reason they’d come here is to harass people,” Anderson said.
In Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, students protesting the immigration enforcement operation walked out of school, as students in other communities have done this week.
The departures in the U.S. Attorney's Office include First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who had been leading the sprawling prosecution of public fraud schemes in the state, according to people who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
With the Department of Homeland Security pledging to send more than 2,000 immigration officers into Minnesota, the state, joined by Minneapolis and St. Paul, sued President Donald Trump’s administration Monday to halt or limit the surge.
The lawsuit says Homeland Security is violating the First Amendment and other constitutional protections by focusing on a progressive state that favors Democrats and welcomes immigrants.
“What we are seeing is thousands — plural — thousands of federal agents coming into our city. And, yeah, they’re having a tremendous impact on day-to-day life,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.
A judge set a status conference for Wednesday.
Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December and is vowing to not back down. Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, responding to the lawsuit, accused Minnesota officials of ignoring public safety.
In a different lawsuit, a judge said she would rule by Thursday or Friday on a request to restrict the use of force, such as chemical irritants, on people who are observing and recording agents' activities. Government attorneys argued that officers must protect themselves.
The Trump administration has repeatedly defended the immigration agent who shot Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, saying he acted in self-defense. But that explanation has been widely panned by Frey, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and others based on videos of the confrontation.
State and local authorities are urging the public to share video and any other evidence as they seek to separately investigate Good's death after federal authorities insisted they would approach it alone and not share information.
In Wisconsin, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez is proposing that the state ban civil immigration enforcement around courthouses, hospitals, health clinics, schools, churches and other places. She is hoping to succeed Gov. Tony Evers, a fellow Democrat, who is not running for a third term.
“We can take a look at that, but I think banning things absolutely will ramp up the actions of our folks in Washington, D.C.,” Evers said, referring to the Trump administration. “They don’t tend to approach those things appropriately.”
Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit; Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.
Monica Travis shares an embrace while visiting a makeshift memorial for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A protester is detained by Federal agents near the scene where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis.(AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A protester grabs a tear gas grenade deployed by federal immigration officers near the scene where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A protester is sprayed with pepper spray by a Federal agent Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis.(AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Tear gas is deployed amid protesters near the scene where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis.(AP Photo/Adam Gray)
EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - Tear gas is deployed amid protesters near the scene where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A protester is detained by Federal agents near the scene where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis.(AP Photo/Adam Gray)(AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A protester grabs a tear gas grenade deployed by federal immigration officers near the scene where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Fireworks are set off by protesters outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Federal immigration officers detain a demonstrator outside Bishop Whipple Federal Building after tear gas was deployed Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Federal immigration officers are seen outside Bishop Whipple Federal Building after tear gas was deployed Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Federal agents drive through smoke from tear gas dispersed during a protest, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Minneapolis (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A protester's face is doused in water after he was pepper sprayed outside of the Bishop Whipple Federal Building, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - A man gestures as he walks toward a cloud of tear gas that was deployed by federal immigration officers Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Protesters try to avoid tear gas dispersed by federal agents, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Minneapolis (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal agents get ready to disperse tear gas into a crowd at a protest, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Minneapolis (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
