Mr. Daniel Ross, Chief Investment Officer and Head of the Sustainability Department at BTS Group Holdings PCL, teamed up with Mr. Chadchart Sittipunt, Governor of Bangkok in supporting the ‘This Car Reduces PM2.5 Dust’ campaign. Joined by a team of BTS Group executives including Mr. Surapong Laoha-Unya, Executive Director and Chief Officer of MOVE business, Ms. Narissara Sriunt, Strategic Commuications Advisor, and Mr. Sumit Srisantithum, Chief Operating Officer of Bangkok Mass Transit System PCL, along with Mr. Pornphrom N.S. Vikitserth, Advisor to Governor of Bangkok (Environmental Affairs), an opening ceremony was held at BTS Ha Yaek Lat Phrao station to inaugurate the campaign with the aim to drive Bangkok towards a Green Economy. To participate, individuals are able to show their oil-change and air filter receipt from campaign partners in exchange for a Rabbit voucher, valued at 100 baht, at 5 participating BTS stations which includes BTS Mo Chit, BTS Siam, BTS Asoke, BTS Chong Nonsi and BTS Ha Yaek Lat Phrao starting from 7 February – 31 March 2024.
Mr. Chadchart Sittipunt has express his gratification for BTS Group’s support in the ‘This Car Reduces PM2.5 Dust’ and invites the public to join hands in reducing PM2.5 with the simple act of changing their engine oil or air filter in accordance to BMA’s campaign. As part of the larger campaign, BMA together with the Ministry of Energy, has invited various gas station companies and automobile brands in providing the public with a special promotion to encourage the use of Euro5 fuel and engine maintenance in accordance to the policy to change the quality of oil from Euro4 to Euro5. The Ministry of Energy claimed that since the Euro5 fuel contains 5 times less sulfur, it results in a reduction of PM2.5 emissions in diesel engines by more than 20%. In addition, Bangkok has tested PM2.5 emissions from Euro 3 diesel model vehicles that have passed the black smoke test at the Bangkok Vocational Training School (Athorn Sangkhawattana), Thung Khru District, with observations made between maintenance-free vehicles and vehicles that have undergone maintenance through engine oil and air filter replacement with the use of sensors to measure the air quality. From the AIRLAB Microsensors Challenge 2023 project in a room size of 50 cubic meters, the test proved that vehicles that have undergone car filter and engine oil replacement have the ability to reduce PM2.5 emissions by up to 25% while also extendig the life of vehicles.
Mr. Daniel Ross shared that BTS Group is delighted to be a part of this campaign and is proud to be one of the key players empowering the public to take part in tackling the city’s air pollution problem. While we are recognised for our BTS SkyTrains, known as one of the greenest and safest form of transportation, BTS Group is also active in promoting sustainable transportation across multiple modes, including buses, ferries and motorcycle taxis. More importantly we view ourselves as part of the community and our role to advocate for sustainable mobility for all members of the community. Thailand has set an ambitious goal of becoming Carbon Neutral by 2050 and Net Zero by 2065. In order to have a chance to reach that, the public and private sector must all work together. We hope this will be the first of many future collaborations with BMA to foster collective action towards a cleaner and greener Bangkok.
Since its inception in 1999, BTS Group has enabled its passengers to collectively avoid more than 2.1mn tonnes of CO2e from servicing more than 4 billion sustainable trips, equivalent to the positive impact of planting 222 million trees. Reflecting on its efforts in sustainable mobility no matter the mode of transport, BTS Group is the world’s first and only Carbon Neutral rail transportation company and has notably earned its rank as the world most sustainable transportation company.
