Reporter of Lao Dong Newspaper had an interview with Ms. Le Thanh Thuy - Deputy Head of the Environmental Management Department (Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment) on this issue.
Sir, what is the main cause of air pollution in Hanoi today, especially in the context of increasing traffic and the number of motorbikes?
- Ms. Le Thanh Thuy: The current story of air pollution in Hanoi can be clearly seen through the following main causes:
First of all, it is necessary to mention traffic activities. Hanoi City is receiving a very large number of vehicles, about 7.6 million vehicles, not to mention the number of imported vehicles from other localities.
This is the largest source of emissions, causing air pollution in Hanoi, with ingredients such as CO, PM2.5 fine dust and many other compounds. These components directly affect the health of people and the community of the capital.
Therefore, in the coming time, I think the shift and green transformation policies that the city is implementing are a very encouraging signal.
In addition to traffic, there are other causes. Currently, Hanoi is implementing many urban renovation projects from now until the end of the year, causing intensive construction activities. Transporting construction materials on the streets also increases the amount of dust, contributing significantly to the level of pollution. Along with that, the situation of burning in the open such as burning straw and burning garbage against regulations still occurs frequently, making pollution in Hanoi serious.
Finally, weather factors also have a significant impact. This year, natural disasters have many unusual developments, so Hanoi's pollution season comes later than previous years and we are facing that pollution season.
Therefore, Hanoi needs to implement both immediate and long-term measures to soon improve air quality and protect people's health.
From now until 2026, Hanoi will build a roadmap to determine the "root cause" of pollution, including research on the pollution rate due to traffic. How is this roadmap being implemented?
- Ms. Le Thanh Thuy: We have begun to develop a plan to inventory all sources of pollution to determine the level of contribution of each group of sources to air pollution in Hanoi. The inventory includes both domestic and external sources of emissions in the city.
This is a very large-scale general inventory, requiring significant efforts and resources. The implementation process must be comprehensive, at the same time, the implementation method needs to be calculated to be most effective. The goal is to help us "catch the disease correctly", understand the nature of Hanoi's air pollution problem, and thereby propose appropriate solutions.
We have started implementing this plan since the last months of 2025 and will implement it synchronously and drastically throughout 2026. The goal is that by the end of 2026, Hanoi can affirm the contribution level of each group of sources causing air pollution. At that time, we will have a basis to focus resources on the right areas, the right causes that need to be prioritized for handling, in order to completely solve air pollution problems.
Determining the contribution rate of each emission source also helps the city have the most scientific and factual basis for policy making. This is an important foundation for solutions to improve air quality to be effectively and focused on.
Why did Hanoi only start implementing this inventory at this time, when the pollution situation has lasted for many years?
- Ms. Le Thanh Thuy: To conduct a comprehensive inventory, we have to collect and evaluate many emission components from different sources. As I have shared, it is a source from construction, transportation, industry... and each source requires a separate thesis method to determine the level of contribution accurately.
We have also implemented inventory work in the past, but the implementation is not really synchronous, and there has not been enough solid scientific evidence.
Currently, we are accessing many new methods in the world and in the region, towards what we call "smart metrics". That is, the inventory process cannot be done only once and then stopped, but can be done periodically, for example, every two years, in a more professional, methodical and comprehensive manner.
The goal is to improve accuracy, ensure scientificity and regular updates, thereby better serving policy making and implementing solutions to control air pollution in Hanoi.
Hanoi needs to be very well prepared. In fact, we have set up a plan and orientation for the inventory for quite a long time. We have conducted an inventory in the industrial sector, validated many sets of data and different research results. However, we are not really sure to make a complete and concise conclusion.
Therefore, in this implementation, we have built new mechanisms to ensure comprehensiveness and sustainability. Later, enterprises, production units, factories, business establishments and each organization and individual will be responsible for providing reporting systems according to regulations. From that data, we will synthesize, standardize and build a complete, comprehensive database - following the lesson that Beijing has implemented very successfully.
This will be an important foundation for Hanoi to have a transparent, continuously updated and reliable data set, serving the assessment and policy making for improving air quality in the coming years.
How do you evaluate the importance of converting from polluting vehicles to green vehicles, including the solution to ban gasoline motorbikes from circulating in Ring Road 1. The City People's Council is also reviewing the levels of support for the people - showing that Hanoi is determined to accompany the people in this transition process. In your opinion, what is the significance of the conversion?
- Ms. Le Thanh Thuy: I think we have nothing to argue about the necessity of green transformation anymore. This is an inevitable trend. With what is existing, we are facing climate change directly, air pollution, natural disasters that are partly caused by the impact of climate change and the underlying cause of air pollution.
We are witnessing a marked increase in diseases, especially diseases related to the respiratory tract. During the polluted season, the number of respiratory diseases increases sharply. It cannot be confirmed that all are due to air pollution, but it can be said that this is the main "favorite" factor, which has been demonstrated in practice as well as the results of many studies.
The main source of pollution, according to scientific research, is traffic. Therefore, green transformation is completely inevitable. However, the important problem is how to transform to suit the development conditions of the city, infrastructure and technical capabilities. This is truly a difficult problem that Hanoi is calculating very carefully.
One of the key solutions is to support people so that they have the conditions to carry out the conversion. The Department of Agriculture and Environment is not the lead unit, but is an agency accompanying the Department of Construction to advise the City People's Committee on support mechanisms.
We are proposing support levels, although they may not be completely satisfactory to the people's wishes, but they are levels built based on actual conditions to "frame the framework" of support to the highest possible level.
The goal is to help people have more motivation and conditions to make the transition sooner. I really hope that by the end of this year, we will have specific support levels, in harmony between economic development requirements and budget capacity, while partly meeting the needs of the people, thereby promoting the voluntary conversion to green vehicles.
