Overcoming Barriers to Sustainable Green Transportation in Ho Chi Minh City: A Pathway Toward Achieving SDGs 11 and 13

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam’s largest urban center, is home to over 9 million people and faces significant challenges due to rapid urbanization and the heavy reliance on personal vehicles. Over 95% of urban passenger transport in HCMC relies on high-emission cars, contributing to severe air pollution and slowing progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Greening HCMC’s transport system is essential to reducing emissions and achieving SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). Despite ongoing efforts, many barriers continue to hinder this transition. This paper aims to identify and prioritize these barriers using the fuzzy TOPSIS method. The results highlight limited infrastructure investment, a lack of charging stations, and unclear policies as the top obstacles. Other challenges include poor service quality, dependence on private vehicles, low community awareness, high fuel prices, and the cost of green vehicles. These findings offer a foundation for proposing solutions and prioritizing actions to build an eco-friendly transport system. This would directly support the SDGs related to sustainable cities, climate action, and public health. A thorough analysis of these barriers and their impact is vital to expedite and enhance the “greening” process by focusing on factors with significant and decisive influence.