Liu Xiao Xing, China Environment News, Beijing - Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the World Bank have jointly held the China HCFC production sector phase-out plan initiation conference and the International Ozone Layer Protection Day campaign in Beijing today. Zhai Qing, currently the Vice Minister of Environmental Protection attended and delivered speech at the conference.

During his speech, Zhai addressed the importance of HCFC industry phase out plan and presented the guiding principle and major initiatives of how to implement this plan.

He also said that in order to ensure the achievement of the stated objectives, the DEP has formulated a system of implementation strategy which combining policy measures, financial incentives and regulatory together to guide the phase out project and focus itself on the following aspects:

1.    implement HCFC production, consumption, import and export volume control and quota management system;

2.    optimize the implementation strategy and shut down backward production capacity preferentially;

3.    rational use of grant funds and improve the cost effectiveness;

4.    strengthen the supervision and management to ensure the implementation of various policy measures.

Zhai also proposed suggestions and advices for the development direction of alternative products and alternative technologies. Currently, low-carbon, energy-saving, safety and environmental protection, he said, have become the major trend of social development. It’s an important opportunity to adjust the industrial structure, excess capacity, and cultivate new growth points for the fluorine chemical industry with the implementation of the HCFCs industry phase out plan. He hoped that the whole industry could make good use of this opportunity, focus themselves on low pollution, low emission, effective, sustainable and low-carbon environmental projects and try to find a scientific and sustainable development path.

To protect the ozone layer and phase out ozone-depleting substances, the international community has concluded the “Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer” and the “Montreal Protocol on Ozone-depleting Substances” in 1985 and 1987 separately. HCFC is one of the major remaining ozone-depleting substances and a potent greenhouse gases too.  The phasing out HCFC industry will produce huge ozone - climate synergies effect.

China is currently the world's largest producer of user and exporter of HCFC.  In April this year, the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund for the 69th meeting, "Montreal Protocol" approved a compensation funds of $ 95 million for accomplishment of 10% of the baseline level of the first phase of China's HCFC phase-out industry, and Overall compensation funds no more than 385 million U.S. dollars for 100% phasing out. As the implementation of the plan, china will reduce about 430 million tons of HCFC production and emissions before 2030 and approximately 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions accumulatively in 2030.