PHL complies with Montreal CFC protocol

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 has cited the Philippines’ compliance to all obligations under the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty to phase out ozone-depleting substances (ODS), particularly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

For over 25 years, the Philippines has been working very hard to cooperate with the international community to implement national programs for phasing out ODS such as CFCs that were traditionally used as cooling chemicals for refrigerators and air conditioners, blowing agent for foam, and as propellant for spray cans.

“The protocol, which the Philippines signed on Sept. 14, 1988, was said to have helped reduce the size of the hole in the ozone layer that protects humans and other orga-nisms against the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation,” said Isabelo R. Montejo, DENR-7 regional executive director.

DENR-7 information officer Eddie Llamedo said in a press statement that experts indicated that the ozone layer is on track to fully recover over the next four decades.

Llamedo said that the Philippines has contri-buted to the global key achievements of the Montreal Protocol, which include the phase-out of 98 percent of historical production and consumption of ODS and the anticipated healing of the ozone layer following 2012 reports that the ozone hole has shrunk and was recorded to be the smallest in the last decade.

The Montreal Protocol has already averted GHG emissions equivalent to more than 135 billion tons of carbon dio-xide.

Montejo added that DENR Secretary Ramon Paje reported that since 1991, or three years after the Philippines became a signatory to the international treaty, “the country has been in compliance to all obligations under the Montreal Protocol and many times, phased out substances ahead of the target schedule.”

The same report pointed out the country had already completed the ban on seven of eight ODS.

These include the three types of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which were used in foam, aerosols and as refrigerants; halon, a fire-extinguishing agent; carbon tetrachloride, a dry cleaning agent; methyl chloroform, used in manufacturing metal and plastic products; and methyl bromide, used in agricultural pesticides and fumigation of products for export.

The remaining ODS – hydrochloroflourocarbons (HCFCs) also known as “super GHG” – are set to be gradually banned starting 2015.

Early this year, the government has frozen the import of HCFCs at the 2010 base level of 162 ozone-depleting potential tons. The level would then be reduced by 10 percent in 2015; 35 percent in 2020; 67 percent in 2025; 97.5 percent in 2030; and altogether banned in 2040.

The year 2013 is also the 25th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, where the Philippines is one of 188 signatory-members.

The Montreal Protocol has been recognized around the world as the most effective multilateral environmental treaty ever implemented, and the country’s being a member is proof of our commitment to reduce global warming.— (FREEMAN)