Hanoi in the season of serious air pollution
Rush hour has passed, but Hanoi is still shrouded in smog. Thick, hazy air is something that people can easily observe in the first days of October. According to the air monitoring system, the air quality is very poor and harmful to the health of the elderly, children and people with respiratory diseases.
Nguyen Quang Nhat (student, Hanoi) said that he constantly compares the air in Hanoi with that in the countryside. “I only go from my rented room to school and back every day, but when I take a bath at night, my face is always dirty, my eyes and nose are also black with mucus,” Nhat said.
Having lived in Hanoi for many years, Mr. Pham Van Chien (66 years old) said that he often has respiratory problems when this season comes. “I am retired so I often make appointments with friends to go out, but every time this season comes, my nose gets an unpleasant allergic reaction. Hanoi’s air quality is always so bad, every time I go out I feel short of breath and stuffy,” Mr. Chien said.
After retiring, Ms. Do Thu Huong (Cau Giay, Hanoi) also stays at home to look after her grandchildren. However, during the day, she only dares to let her grandchildren walk around Cau Giay Park for about 10-15 minutes, and does not dare to stay outside for too long.
“My daughter-in-law is a doctor, very meticulous in taking care of her children. My house is equipped with many air purifiers. This season, the air in Hanoi is hazy, difficult to circulate, plus the amount of exhaust fumes from vehicles and fine dust from construction sites is very large, causing the 3 air purifiers in my house to be covered with dust every few days,” Ms. Huong shared.
Dr. Hoang Duong Tung - Chairman of the Vietnam Clean Air Network, former Deputy Director General Directorate of Environment - said that through many years of monitoring, it can be seen that every winter, the air quality in Hanoi will deteriorate. During this season, exhaust fumes and fine dust have difficulty escaping from other areas and are deposited in low-lying areas. Meanwhile, pollution sources from traffic and construction are still continuously emitting, so the air pollution period will likely last until early next year.
According to experts, up to 70% of urban environmental pollution emissions come from vehicles. In Vietnam, the number of vehicles running on gasoline and diesel accounts for the majority. Although in recent years, the number of motorbikes and electric cars has exploded, bringing positive signals about green transformation in the transportation industry, the number of vehicles running on internal combustion engines, with emissions 2-3 times higher than electric vehicles, is still very large on the streets.
In addition to the dust generated from vehicles, there is also sand, dust, and soil left on the road due to the transportation of construction materials, garbage, or poor soil quality. Noise is also a common form of pollution in urban areas and vehicles, causing great harm to the entire human body in general and the hearing system in particular.
Big bracelet for green transition
From early on, even before the Net Zero commitment at COP 26, our Party and Government were clearly aware of the goal of green transformation and sustainable development orientation. The mindset and efforts for green transformation were strongly demonstrated from the Central Government, to localities and the community of people and businesses.
In the context of increasingly extreme climate change, increasingly complex developments, increasingly serious consequences, and the need for a lot of effort and money to overcome, green development becomes more urgent so that we are always ready to respond to climate change.
Recently, for the first time, more than 50 transport businesses united and organized a meeting to show their determination for the common goal of green transformation, which has greatly inspired the community.
This is a meeting organized by VinFast - GSM. Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong - Chairman of Vingroup Corporation - hopes that from the inspirational story of VinFast, transportation businesses can join together to create dozens, hundreds of other "green" brands.
At this meeting, transport companies affirmed that electric vehicles have many advantages over gasoline vehicles and expressed their willingness to contribute to the green transformation of the transport industry. Some companies signed contracts to buy foreign-brand gasoline-powered cars but were then willing to cancel and lose their deposits to switch to VinFast electric vehicles.
After Xanh SM, You Drink I Drive Company is the next transport company to use 100% electric vehicles. Recently, this company purchased and leased 10,000 more VinFast electric motorbikes from GSM. Previously, in December 2023, BUTL leased 5,000 VinFast electric motorbikes from GSM, deploying services in 13 provinces in the Southwest.
Mr. Tran Nhat Truong - General Director of Ban Uong Toi Lai Service Joint Stock Company - shared: "After nearly 1 year of putting electric vehicles into operation, not only have customers responded with satisfaction with smooth, quiet trips, but our drivers have also expressed their enjoyment with the convenient electric vehicle experience, integrating many modern features."
Mr. Truong said that the trend of switching to electric vehicles in the transportation, taxi and technology car industries is a positive and quite important development. This is a big step forward in reducing emissions that pollute the environment and reducing dependence on limited fuel sources such as gasoline and oil.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh - General Director of GSM Global - expressed his pride that passenger transport businesses are joining hands to switch to green vehicles. He estimated that this year, about 10 transport companies will completely switch to electric vehicles. Mr. Thanh hopes that in 2025, this number will reach 40-50 companies, thereby helping electric vehicles cover all provinces and cities in Vietnam.
Not only in the business community, from central agencies, recently, the Ministry of Public Security has pioneered the green conversion of its vehicles. The unit has piloted the purchase of 70 electric vehicles to serve the traffic police force of the Ministry of Public Security as well as local traffic police.
Accordingly, in the coming time, if effective, the Prime Minister will be reported to deploy it to local police units. The leaders of the Ministry of Public Security will request local police units to increase the purchase and use of electric vehicles, especially assigning local police to proactively deploy electric charging stations, encouraging soldiers to increase the use of electric vehicles.
The change in awareness leading to the actions of individuals, businesses and organizations will not only contribute to environmental protection but will also be an inspirational story for many other individuals, businesses and organizations. From there, Vietnam's aspiration for green transformation and zero emissions will no longer be a distant, unrealistic story.
