Apple Urged to Address Climate Justice Concerns in Vietnam by 61 Organizations Worldwide

April 11, 2024
Dear Apple Leadership Team and Board of Directors,
We are writing with an urgent request regarding climate justice in Vietnam, which directly
impacts Apple and your manufacturing operations in the country. Since Vietnam is now Apple’s
most important production hub outside of China and you have committed to human rights and
“equity and justice in climate solutions,” we believe you have a responsibility to weigh in on the
systematic persecution and imprisonment of climate leaders in the country. Indeed, by not
making a public statement on this matter, you risk violating your own environmental and human
rights policies and delegitimizing Apple’s positive work in these areas.
Vietnam has weaponized its ambiguous laws to arrest climate leaders on trumped-up “tax
evasion” charges. Those who have been targeted include Goldman Environmental Prize winner
Ms. Nguy Thi Khanh, who served 16 months behind bars after working to reduce the
government’s coal expansion plans and researching solar solutions; prominent environmental
lawyer, Mr. Dang Dinh Bach, who is serving a five-year sentence after dedicating his life to
protecting communities from harmful pollution, phasing out plastic waste, and supporting the
Vietnamese government’s transition to clean energy; and Obama Foundation Scholar Ms.
Hoang Thi Minh Hong, who is serving three years in prison after founding and leading the
environmental group CHANGE Vietnam which was dedicated to clean energy and wildlife
conservation solutions.
Vietnam’s latest arrest of Ms. Ngo Thi To Nhien, former Executive Director of Vietnam Initiative
for Energy Transition, was based on “appropriation of information or documents,” suggesting
efforts to criminalize access to information about Vietnam’s clean energy transition.
Apple’s most recent Environmental Progress Report states not only your commitment to equity
and justice in climate solutions but also to transitioning your suppliers to renewable energy and
having net-zero carbon impact from all of your products by 2030. In Vietnam, however, where
you are building the capacity to manufacture nearly all of these products, those who would
have facilitated net-zero carbon impact by supporting the transition to clean energy and other
climate solutions are either in jail or have been silenced due to fear that they could be next.
Environmental organizations are shutting down, and there is currently no transparency or safe
way for civil society to participate in this vital clean energy transition.
How can Apple accomplish its clean energy goals while increasing manufacturing in a country
that is silencing its climate leaders?
Apple’s Commitment to Human Rights states: “We believe in the critical importance of an open
society in which information flows freely, and we’re convinced the best way we can continue to
promote openness is to remain engaged, even where we may disagree with a country’s laws.” In
light of this, we urge Apple to publicly ask the Vietnamese government to release these unjustly
imprisoned climate leaders and ensure that civil society is free to participate in the monitoring
and implementation of Vietnam’s supposed transition to clean energy without fear of
persecution.
This is not just a domestic matter for Vietnam, but rather an issue of global concern. In
December 2022 the Vietnamese government entered into a $15.5 billion Just Energy Transition
Partnership (JETP) with the U.K., U.S., and other G7 countries. However, the implementation
plan released at COP 28 lacks a clear road-map for how this will occur, or how it will be “just”.
There is no timeline for when the country will retire its coal plants, for example. It’s impossible
to envision how a just energy transition can be successful without the participation of civil
society, which is fundamental to providing independent monitoring and accountability from a
social and environmental perspective.
The UN has made numerous statements about Vietnam’s “systemic problem with arbitrary
detention” of environmental defenders and has publicly called for the release of those unjustly
imprisoned. Several governments including the U.S., U.K., E.U., and Germany have also issued
multiple public statements along the same lines. Mr. Dang Dinh Bach was specifically mentioned
in a recent U.S. Senate resolution calling for robust U.S. leadership against human rights abuses
that target environmental defenders and urging the international community to stand with
individuals fighting climate chaos. Unfortunately, these calls are falling on deaf ears.
But Apple, a company of growing significance to Vietnam’s economy, is in a unique position to
bring this issue to the forefront. Simply stating that you are in support of equitable and just
climate solutions and human rights is not enough. Your commitments require action, and now is
the time to take it.
Members of the Vietnam Climate Defenders Coalition, a group of over three dozen international
human rights and environmental organizations, wrote to you with these concerns on May 31,One day later Hong was arrested and Bach declared a hunger strike from prison. We
appreciated the opportunity to meet virtually with members of your staff to discuss these
concerns in November 2023. Still, despite these communications, we have not heard any
response regarding Apple’s next steps.
As you know, it’s all hands on deck to mitigate the global climate crisis. We appreciate
everything Apple has done to accelerate solutions and implore you to use your powerful voice
to raise concerns about this disturbing situation in Vietnam. How could Apple not take a public
stance, knowing that it could make all the difference?
Thank you in advance for your consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,

350.org

ACAT France (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture)

ACAT Germany (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture)

Accountability Counsel

Actions for Nature Conservation and Community Development (ACNDC)

Actions pour la Lutte Contre les Injustices Sociales (ALCIS)

Africa Child Care Nation (ACCN)

AFRIQUE SOLIDARITE ASBL

Agency for Turkana Development Initiatives (ATUDIS)

Alternatives Ménages, Nature et Marchés AMEN DRC

ARTICLE 19

Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy (AIPNEE)

Bank Information Center

Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws KC

Both ENDS

Brotherhood For Democracy

Buliisa initiative for rural development organisation (BIRUDO)

Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED)

Centre for Environment, Human Rights & Development Forum (CEHRDF)

Center for Human Rights and Environment (CHRE)

Community Resource Centre

Community Support Center / CSC-Asbl

DEFENDRE c’est ma VOCATION

EarthRights International

Economic Justice Network Sierra Leone

Environmental Defender Law Center

ETO Watch Coalition

Federal Association of Vietnamese Refugees in Germany

FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the

Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Friends of the Earth Japan

Friends of the Earth Sierra Leone

Global Network of Movement Lawyers,

Global Participe

Global Witness

GroundWork

Inclusive Development International

International Accountability Project

International Rivers

Judicial Reform Foundation 民間司法改革基金會

Just Ground

KRuHA

Manushya Foundation

Mekong Watch

Movement Law Lab

Namati

Oil Change International

Population and Development Initiative

PowerShift e.V.

Project88

Protection International

Quê Me: Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR)

Rivers without Boundaries Coalition

Roots2Justice

Sierra Leone Land Alliance

Stand.Earth

Swiss Vietnam Committee COSUNAM

The Marginalised Mirror

Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) – South Korea

Viet Tan

Witness Radio – Uganda

World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders