In the News
May 3, 2019
For lifetime Hanoian Thanh Vân, days filled with fresh air and walks down the cool, tree-shaded streets of the capital are few and far between.
The woman born and raised in the Old Quarter is more used to a thick blanket of haze on her daily commute.
Some 7 million people living in the city suffer the same ordeal.
Hà Nội’s air quality has worsened dramatically in the last few years, remaining at unhealthy to very unhealthy levels almost year-round, according to air quality forecast app AirVisual.
A report released by Greenpeace in early March listed Hà Nội as the second most polluted city in Southeast Asia, following Indonesia’s Jakarta.
“There’s an estimated global cost of US$225 billion in lost labour, and trillions in medical costs. This has enormous impacts, on our health and on our wallets,” noted Yeb Sano, Executive Director of Greenpeace South East Asia, on the effects of air pollution.
Air pollution reduces global life expectancy by nearly two years, research by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago found.