Oman in third stage of phasing-out HCFC project: CAA

The Sultanate of Oman, which acceded to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol, is now implementing the third phase of the Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) phase-out strategy project in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Development Organisation (UNIDO), the Civil Aviation Authority said on Friday.

The first phase of the Montreal Protocol called for the HCFC consumption freeze by 2013 and a ten per cent reduction in consumption from the baseline by 2015 for non-low-volume consuming countries.

The second phase was completed last year, while under the third phase, the government is enforcing a licensing and quota system for the import and export of HCFCs.

According to UNIDO, the Sultanate of Oman has continued developing and strengthening its legal framework to create an enabling environment for sustainable phase-out, including an e-licencing system; a ban on imports of HCFC-141b in bulk and contained in pre-blended polyols and HCFC-142b; a ban on the venting of refrigerants into the atmosphere; mandatory refrigerant R&R and mandatory quarterly reporting thereon; mandatory logbook to record leaks and repairs and mandatory leak detection of all controlled substances in RAC systems with a charge greater than 3kg, and requiring the licensing of all entities handling ODS.

The projects include training technicians and planned implementation of the certification scheme. The second stage of the HCFC phase-out was completed in 2021.

There has been a substantial reduction in ODSs emissions over the last two decades, and there is evidence that the ozone layer is healing itself and can recover by the middle of this century, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), thanks to the agreement.

The Antarctic Zone hole is expected to close by the 2060s, while other regions will return to pre-1980s values even earlier. To date, nearly 99 per cent of ODSs have been phased out, UNEDP said.

“We celebrate 35 years of the Montreal Protocol’s success in protecting the stratospheric ozone layer against synthetic chemicals that also cause climate heating,” said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his message to mark the international day.

The Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987 and entered into force in 1989, is considered one of the world’s most successful environmental treaties. “Thanks to a global agreement, humanity has averted a major health catastrophe due to ultraviolet radiation pouring through a massive hole in the ozone layer,” the Secretary-General said.

The Protocol provides a set of practical ways to phase out ODSs – including through stringent measures worldwide to control products containing the chemicals.

In 2016, the Protocol was amended in Kigali to also phase out the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons — which became a replacement for ODSs but proved to be more potent than carbon dioxide, and detrimental to the climate.

@vinot_nair