Hanoi to Launch Low-Emission Zone in Historic Core from 1 July

The Hanoi People’s Council formally approved a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) scheme on 15 June 2026, encompassing all nine wards inside Ring Road 1 — a combined area of more than 26 km² that is home to roughly 625,000 people and contains the city’s historic, political, and cultural centre. Implementation begins with a phased pilot on 1 July, deliberately avoiding blanket restrictions from the outset in order to give residents and businesses time to adapt.

The rollout is structured in three stages. Phase 1 (July–December 2026) concentrates on 119 streets and five alleys in the Hoàn Kiếm ward old quarter and the streets surrounding Hoàn Kiếm Lake, with activities limited to public awareness campaigns, voluntary vehicle-transition registration, and encouragement — not yet enforcement — of reduced use of petrol-powered two-wheelers, especially app-based ride-hailing bikes and older machines (motorbikes manufactured before 2008 and scooters manufactured before 2016). Phase 2 (all of 2027) expands the pilot to the full Hoàn Kiếm and Cửa Nam wards, introduces formal roadside emissions testing for two-wheelers in line with the national government’s testing roadmap, and completes a surveillance-camera and vehicle-recognition system. Phase 3 (2028–2029) extends the LEZ to the entirety of Ring Road 1 and enforces a hard prohibition on petrol motorbikes and scooters that fail to meet Vietnam’s national vehicle emission standard level 3 or above. From 2030, the LEZ is to be maintained and progressively tightened.

Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Trương Việt Dũng conceded that restricting vehicles in the core zone may generate short-term commercial pressure, but argued that medium- and long-term gains — reduced congestion, lower noise, and improved pedestrian space — will outweigh near-term disruptions. As a transitional support measure, the city plans to offer priority bus access for passengers travelling within Ring Road 1 from 1 July 2026 through 30 June 2028, excluding tourist bus services. City statistics show that petrol-powered motorbikes currently account for about 96% of the roughly 511,000 registered two-wheelers inside Ring Road 1, while petrol and diesel vehicles together represent approximately 97% of the some 58,000 private cars registered in the same zone.