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When the Vietnamese government decided to cut coal use in its next energy plan in 2016, he followed the advice of an unlikely source: one of the country’s foremost environmentalists.

Nguy Thi Khanh has spoken out about what the government should do: He said it needs to cut coal-fired power by 30,000 megawatts – the equivalent of the capacity of all coal plants in Texas and Pennsylvania. The government met him halfway through and agreed to a 20,000 megawatt reduction.

It was a great victory for the country’s environmentalists. But on Friday, Ms. Nguy, 46, was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to two years in prison, according to three people familiar with the verdict. His cause sent jolts of fear through the environmental movement.

Speaking softly and keeping herself in the background, Ms. Nguy prepared reports documenting the risks for Vietnam, one of the fastest growing economies in the world. keep relying on coal. He traveled around the country using science and statistics to persuade the public and influence local officials.

It also campaigned to defend the environment and mobilized communities, especially among the youth – activities that could be seen as a threat to the one-party state that had long been intolerant of dissent in general.

Many environmentalists say the prosecution of Ms. Nguy, known as Khanh, and other activists has questioned Vietnam’s promises at Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s United Nations climate summit in Glasgow last year. Promised to reduce coal consumption until 2040. It was an important development; Vietnam, a country of 99 million people, was the ninth largest coal consumer globally.

“It doesn’t make any sense to us,” Michael Sutton, executive director of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, wrote to the Vietnam ambassador in Washington. The release of Ms. Nguy.

“We are concerned about what this says for the future and success of Vietnam’s stated energy goals.”

Others saw the case as a reflection of an alarming trend.

“This is a very strong signal from the Communist Party that they are willing to go much further to control civil society,” said co-director Trinh Huu Long. Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, based in Taiwan. “And they will not tolerate even the slightest criticism.”

Prior to Ms. Nguy’s advocacy, Vietnam had very little in the way of renewable energy. But growing awareness of the health costs of burning fossil fuels has prompted the government to adopt solar energy. Many local governments have offered tax exemptions and attractive tariffs to encourage investment. It worked. Vietnam becomes the country with the largest installed solar and wind power capacity in Southeast Asia.

But many officials were opposed to renewable energy. In some draft plans, the government initially contradicted its policy, stating that it wanted to continue its reliance on coal. There were fears that weaning the country off coal could hurt the economy and that renewable energy could be an expensive and unreliable way to power the country.

In many ways, the treatment of Ms. Nguy illuminates the Vietnamese government’s contradictory approach to environmental protection and conflicts between various ministries. Faced with rising public anger air pollution and chemical spillsthe government has allowed environmental protection groups and limited protests tolerated.

But as Vietnam has been pressured to find cleaner ways to develop its manufacturing sector, it has also faced criticism from officials for calling it unfair that developed countries have long been allowed to pump large amounts of greenhouse gases.

“They may be concerned that Vietnam’s move away from coal might harm their interests, so they want to silence it,” said Le Hong Hiep, a senior fellow in Singapore’s ISEAS – Yusof Isaac Institute’s Vietnam Studies Program. “I think that may be the main reason for his arrest.”

This tension emerged in Vietnam just two weeks before last year’s UN summit.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade had just proposed doubling coal-fired electricity capacity, according to a draft plan. Ms. Nguy urged the public to circulate a letter addressed to the prime minister and signed by multiple environmental groups, warning her that the policy could “risk Vietnam’s isolation from the international community”.

“Dark times come not from a lack of sunlight, but from a lack of leadership,” Ms Nguy wrote in a Facebook post. “We still believe and hope in the determination of the Prime Minister and senior leaders to make a climate breakthrough.”

They did. Immediately after the summit, The USA, UK, European Union and Japan started to discuss possible energy agreements with Vietnam. in March, US special climate envoy John Kerry visited Vietnampromises to increase participation in climate and clean energy. In May, 7 major economic groups, Providing financial and technical support to Vietnam to assist the country’s transition from coal-fired energy to renewable energy.

Jake Schmidt, senior strategic director for international climate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Vietnam now has “zero confidence” that it can make the energy transition under pressure.

Ms. Nguy knew that her activism had made her a target. Julien Vincent, executive director of Market Forces, an Australia-based group that focuses on agencies that finance projects that harm the environment, said Ms Nguy told her her office was raided by police officers and that “police or government agencies are never too far away”. far.”

“They’re always following them,” said Mr. Vincent. “He said it’s part of everyday life.”

Ms. Nguy’s arrest surprised her friends because she stood out for her non-confrontational approach. she said she admired greta thunberg but the swedish climate activism style It will not be accepted in Vietnam. She said one of her primary motivations is to be a mother to three children aged 20, 15 and 10.

Coal was a subject close to Ms. Nguy’s heart. Born and raised in a rural area of ​​northern Vietnam, Ms. Nguy’s family lived near a coal-fired power plant. He remembered the dust and gray color caused by the plant.

At that time, Vietnam was dependent on coal. In 2011, the government said it planned to add about 75 gigawatts of new coal by 2030. Vietnam had only four gigawatts of coal at the time, and the new target – a combined coal capacity slightly above the combined coal capacity of Germany and Poland – will set the country up for having the world’s fourth-largest coal power plant after only China, the United States and India. put it.

That year, Ms. Nguy helped found the Green Center for Innovation and Development, or GreenID, a group that aims to create a renewable energy pathway for Vietnam. A year later, she founded the Vietnam Sustainable Energy Alliance, which now consists of 12 organizations.

Nguy, after winning the Goldman award in 2018, the People’s Army NewspaperHe has been described by Vietnam’s Ministry of Defense as an “Asian environmental hero” for helping “the state formulate policies for sustainable development”.

The enthusiasm did not last long. In February, police in Hanoi arrested him.

Now in a detention center in Hanoi, Ms. Nguy is in good health and continues to practice meditation, according to someone with knowledge of her condition.

The source said he hopes for the shortest possible prison sentence before his conviction. His goal: to return to work soon.

Richard C. Paddock contributing reporting.