Myanmar moves forward on HCFC emissions

Myanmar is on target for the reduction and eventual phasing out of chemicals that harm the earth’s ozone layer, the environment minister said last week. The high-level layer of ozone gas helps protect the earth from harmful solar radiation.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, Minister for Environmental Conservation and Forestry U Win Tun said the harmful chemicals known as HCFC would be phased out on schedule by 2030.

The government started drawing up plans in 2010 to reduce domestic consumption of hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) over the next 20 years, with financial and technical support from the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Industrial Development Organisation.

The minister said the plan, which is now complete, would be implemented once the necessary regulations have come into effect. “We will train professionals to replace [HCFC] with other technology and substances in refrigerator and air-conditioning manufacturing,” U Win Tun said.

Myanmar is a signatory to the Vienna Convention for the protection of the ozone layer and signed the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer and its London Amendment on November 24, 1993.

source: The Myanmar Times
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/8308-myanmar-moves-forward-on-hcfc-emissions.html