Vehicles on a street in Hanoi (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – With a population of over 7.7 million people along with 17 industrial parks, more than 1,300 trade villages, 5.3 million motorbikes and nearly 560,000 cars, Hanoi is suffering from negative impacts caused by climate change.
To gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in December 2015, the capital and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group signed a cooperation agreement on environmental protection and climate change adaptation.
In October 2017, Hanoi officially joined the Ambitious City Promises project led by the Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) with the commitments of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, supporting the development of special action programmes, and increasing the role and participation of local governments in climate change adaptation.
Le Tuan Dinh, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said Hanoi was the first locality in the country to carry out greenhouse gas inventories.
It is estimated that the average carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from waste in the capital will be 4,053 million tonnes by 2020, and from energy 18.2 million tonnes.
Hanoi has updated the latest climate change scenario of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment while improving the forecasting capacity, proactively preventing natural disasters and mitigating its damages.
The city has implemented public awareness-raising activities and integrated response measures into socio-economic development plans and strategies.
It has partnered with multiple organisations at home and abroad to carry out projects improving the air quality.
Hanoi is also leading in investing in and installing an air quality monitoring network while coordinating with international organisations to conduct greenhouse gas inventories to build and implement effectively measures to mitigate air pollution.
This year, the capital strives to treat sewage in all urban districts, operate effectively waste-to-power plants, and grow one million trees.
By 2020, the city aims to install and put into operation 38 air monitoring stations.-VNA
VNA
