Air pollution is getting worse

According to data from IQAir, at 7am on October 9, the air pollution index in Hanoi was 213, ranking second in the world. This is a threshold harmful to human health.

Notably, in recent days, air pollution in major cities has been at an alarming level. On October 7, both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were among the most polluted cities in the world. The air pollution index in Hanoi was 174 - the most polluted in the world; the index in Ho Chi Minh City was 147 - ranked 7th in the world, air quality is not good for sensitive groups.

Mr. Hoang Duong Tung - Chairman of the Vietnam Clean Air Network assessed that Hanoi as well as many cities in Vietnam are seriously polluted. One of the main causes of air pollution comes from personal vehicles.

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Transportation is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, causing air pollution. Photo: Pham Hai

We have a lot of motorbikes and cars that run on fossil fuels. There are no regulations to control emissions of motorbikes, so they can emit as much black smoke as they want. These are very significant sources of air pollution for the city, Mr. Tung emphasized.

According to a study by the Southern Environmental Monitoring Center (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), in 2023, in large cities in our country, up to 70% of environmental pollution emissions will come from vehicles. The amount of these emissions increases every year, along with the increase in the number of vehicles, especially personal vehicles.

Experts calculate that if each car and motorbike on the road is considered a mobile emission station, then Vietnam has nearly 80.6 million such emission stations (according to the number of registered vehicles as of the end of 2023). Of these, there are more than 6.3 million cars and 74.3 million motorbikes.

These fossil fuel cars and motorbikes are not only the main cause of air pollution, but also have a direct negative impact on people's health.

Mr. Pattrick Haverman - Deputy Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, cited national data in 2016, the transport sector contributed about 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. This shows that if no action is taken to prevent it now, these emissions will increase to 64.3 million tons of carbon by 2025 and 88.1 million tons of carbon by 2030.

Therefore, converting or even “closing” these emission sources is necessary and urgent. This is not only in line with the global trend but also an important task if Vietnam wants to achieve the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 as committed by the Government.

Greening transportation

Recently, at a workshop on reducing emissions in the automobile industry, Dr. Le Xuan Nghia - Director of the Carbon Finance Development Consulting Institute, affirmed that electric vehicles are a promising means of transport to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades.

However, he noted the need to change consumers' views on electric vehicles today. The experience of some countries in promoting the production and consumption of green vehicles is to promote domestic consumption. For example, in Korea, all public vehicles are domestically produced, thereby creating trust with consumers, creating a nationwide movement to prioritize the use of domestic products.

The purchase of public vehicles in our country can also be switched from gasoline vehicles to electric vehicles to set an example for the people, Mr. Nghia suggested.

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Switching to electric vehicles is one of the solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Photo: Lado taxi

In fact, recently, people and businesses' awareness of electric vehicles has gradually changed. Electric vehicles are gaining attention and are the preferred choice, because they are not only more cost-effective than gasoline vehicles but also contribute to reducing emissions into the environment.

Taking the lead in the transition to "green vehicles", the Ministry of Public Security has recently piloted the purchase of 70 electric vehicles to serve the traffic police force, and at the same time has a direction to increase the implementation of converting police vehicles to electric vehicles. In addition, local police are assigned to proactively deploy electric charging stations, encouraging the force to increase the use of electric vehicles...

On October 2, You Drink I Drive Service Joint Stock Company (BUTL) signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase and lease an additional 10,000 VinFast electric motorbikes from GSM Green and Smart Mobility Joint Stock Company (GSM).

Mr. Tran Nhat Truong - General Director of BUTL - shared: "Currently, the trend of switching to electric vehicles in the transportation, taxi and technology car industry 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".

Previously, in December 2023, BUTL rented 5,000 VinFast electric motorbikes from GSM, deploying services in 13 provinces in the Southwest region.

At the end of September, for the first time, more than 50 transport enterprises in our country united and determined for the common goal of switching to green means of transport towards sustainable development.

Understanding the change best after converting from 800 gasoline vehicles to electric vehicles, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Dong - General Director of Dong Thuy Company Limited (the operator of Lado Taxi) admitted that the cost of use is much more economical than gasoline vehicles.

He committed that by the end of 2024, Lado Taxi will convert to 100% electric taxis with about 1,100 vehicles.

In addition to cost savings, switching to electric vehicles is also in line with the Government's orientation on developing green and clean public transport. Therefore, Mr. Ho Chuong - General Director of Son Nam International Transport Company Limited, said that the company had signed a contract to buy gasoline-powered cars but was then ready to cancel, accepting to lose the deposit to switch to electric vehicles.

Promoting renewable energy, electric vehicles will become increasingly cleaner Electric vehicles will become increasingly cleaner as renewable energy is an inevitable trend taking place strongly in the world.