replacing HFCs with natural refrigerants worldwide today

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After having closed down all its production plants for CFCs much ahead of the schedule of the Montreal Protocol, , the world’s largest producer of Ozone Depleting Substances ( ODS) , China, has enacted today the Regulations on the Administration that include controls over consumption, trade, import, export and production of remaining ODS.

China’s ODS regulation enacts strong control measures across all sectors using ODS. Annual quota limits are now required for ODS producers and consumers. ODS servicing firms and recovery and recycling businesses must register with their local or Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau. The regulation also increases the transparency of cross-border trade by strengthening the ODS import/export license system.

“This ODS Regulation further demonstrates the strong political commitment of the Government of China to the protection of the global environment. It will guide Chinese industry to ODS-free technology while minimizing other environmental impacts”, said Mr. Wen Wurui, Director General, Foreign Economic Cooperation Office (FECO), Ministry for Environmental Protection (MEP), China.

These regulations will also involve high penalties. For example, facilities and systems that illegally produce ODS will be dismantled and demolished and subject to fines of approximately USD 150,000.

As many ODS are also powerful greenhouse gases, China’s ODS Regulation will further contribute to climate protection effects by reducing the emissions of thousands of millions of tons of CO2 equivalent. “With these regulations, China is promoting industry and research institutes to research and develop ODS alternatives which are ozone and climate friendly” said Mr. Rajendra Shende, Head, UNEP DTIE OzonAction Programme that has provided policy assistance to China.

China has been Party to the Montreal Protocol since 1991. With a joint effort of industry, government and consumers, China terminated the production and imports of two main kinds of ODS in 2007, two and a half years before the Protocol deadline. By 2008 China had phased out 100,000 tons of ODS production and 110,000 tons of ODS consumption, accounting for 50% of the total ODS phase-out in developing countries. In addition, China ratified the Montreal and Beijing Amendments to the Montreal Protocol on 19 May 2010, a reaffirmation of its commitment to the phaseout of HCFCs, the ozone depleting and high GWP interim alternatives to CFCs.

In order to fulfill this latter commitment, China and other developing countries are building roadmaps, known as “HCFC Phase-out Management Plans (HPMPs)”, for an HCFC phase out across 8 sectors. This is in response to the accelerated phase-out schedule for HCFCs, agreed to by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in 2007. HCFCs are mostly used in the same sectors that consumed CFCs, and their global CO2-weighted emissions having increased by 30% during the period 2004-2007 (Montzka et al. (2008) GRL). The dual threat that HCFCs pose to the ozone and climate systems mean that the world needs to act urgently to control them.