India on 13 October 2016 announced its decision to eliminate the HCF-23 gas. The decision was made in line to its commitment to combat the threat emanating from climate-damaging HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons).
The announcement was made by Minister of State Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Anil Dave at Kigali, Rwanda, at a meeting of parties to the Montreal Protocol, where final negotiations are taking place to substantially reduce the use of HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) by 2030.
HFC–23 gas, a potent greenhouse gas, with Global Warming Potential of 14800, is produced during the manufacture of a common refrigerant gas, HCFC-22. If vented out in environment, is a threat to the environment. HCFC stands for hydrochloroflurocarbon.
Key Highlights
• Companies have to internalise the cost of this environmental externality and create sufficient storage facility to take care of down time and run the incinerators to ensure and not release of HFC–23 in the atmosphere.
• The move will potentially check emissions of HFC-23 equivalent to 100 million tonnes of CO2 over the next 15 years, Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment.
Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was designed to reduce the production and consumption of ozone depleting substances in order to reduce their abundance in the atmosphere, and thereby protect the earth’s fragile ozone Layer. The original Montreal Protocol was agreed on 16 September 1987 and entered into force on 1 January 1989.
The Montreal Protocol includes a unique adjustment provision that enables the Parties to the Protocol to respond quickly to new scientific information and agree to accelerate the reductions required on chemicals already covered by the Protocol. These adjustments are then automatically applicable to all countries that ratified the Protocol. It has been ratified by 197 parties.
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