Hanoi is suffering bad air days. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam suffers around 10.8 – 13.2 billion USD worthof economic losses associated with ambient air pollution each year, equivalentto 4.45 – 5.64 percent of the country’s GDP, heard a discussion in Hanoi onJanuary 14.
The figure is calculated by a research project of the National University ofEconomics (NEU), according to Associate Professor Dinh Duc Truong, Director ofthe NEU’s faculty of environment, climate change and urban development.
He also cited another research project conducted by theBill and Melinda Gates Foundation which claimed that some 71,000 deaths inVietnam in 2018 were caused by environmental pollution, with around 50,000deaths directed related to air pollution.
President of the Vietnam Clean Air Network Hoang Duong Tung said that emissionsfrom vehicles are a major source of air pollution in urban areas (60 percent),adding Vietnam is the world’s fourth largest motorcycle market with 46 millionvehicles, after China, India and Indonesia.
Coal-fired power plants, cement and steel production facilities, constructionactivities and the burning of stubble, are also responsible for a largeproportion of urban air pollution, he added.
To cut pollution, Tung suggested limiting the use of personal vehicles anddeveloping public transport infrastructure. He also laid stress on the need tocomplete a legal framework, enhance environmental monitoring activities, andpublicise monitoring information for coal-fired, steel, cement and chemicalplants.
Meanwhile, Truong underlined that comprehensive measures should be put in placeto reduce activities that harm the environment.
He recommended applying carbon taxes and environmental fees, issuing greenbonds and encouraging investment in the form of Public-Private partnership inenvironmental monitoring activities and clean energy./.
VNA
