24Th MEETING of the PARTIES

1

24th MEETING OF THE PARTIES

TO

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL

ON SUBSTANCES THAT DEPLETE THE OZONE LAYER

15-16 NOVEMBER 2012

STATEMENT

BY

india

MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Mr. President, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mr. President, please accept our heartiest felicitations on your election to the President of 24th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. I take this opportunity to compliment the Government of Switzerland for the excellent arrangements made for the 24th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. I would also like to congratulate the Secretariat for the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol especially Mr. Marco Gonzalez and his team for making all the arrangements for the meeting.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer has been recognized as the most successful International Environment Treaty in history. All countries of the world have ratified this landmark treaty with an endeavour to protect the planet from ill effects of depletion of the Ozone Layer. The Montreal Protocol has evolved excellent decision making process. The policy issues are deliberated and discussed in a very comprehensive manner and the Parties to the Montreal Protocol arrive at policy decisions with a consensus. This makes the Montreal Protocol a unique treaty. In the twenty five years of its operation, extraordinary international cooperation under this treaty has lead to phase-out of about 98 percent of the ozone depletion weighted level of production and consumption of all the Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs) controlled by the Montreal Protocol.

One of the key factors of this accomplishment was that the industrialized countries acknowledged their historic responsibility for production, consumption and emissions of ODSs that had caused the stratospheric ozone hole. The developing countries took on commitments for phasing out production and consumption of ODSs with a 10-year grace period. Such common but differentiated responsibilities led to the success of the Montreal Protocol, which can now serve as a model for other international cooperation for addressing other environmental challenges.

The Montreal Protocol has not only focused objectives and well defined targets for phase-out of production and consumption of ODSs but also has a dynamic process for evolving policy instruments based on scientific and technical advancements. The three Panels viz., the Environmental Effect Assessment Panel (EEAP), Scientific Assessment Panel (SAP) and Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) are the knowledge based resource which provides updated highly reliable scientific and technical information to the Protocol enabling the Parties to take well informed decisions. India would like to acknowledge their contributions and appreciate their dedicated efforts to the Protocol during all these years. In addition, a robust and transparent mechanism was created for providing technical and financial assistance to the developing countries to meet their obligations as per the Montreal Protocol schedule.

Mr. President, the year 2012 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol and it is being celebrated globally as an enduring mission for protecting our atmosphere for generations to come. It is the time to have glance on the achievements made by the Protocol. It is heartening to note that the Montreal Protocol has not only protected the stratospheric ozone but also immensely benefited the climate system. The ODSs are potent Green House Gases (GHGs) and these gases were not included in Kyoto basket of gases for emission controls. As per the expert estimates, so far, the Montreal Protocol has reduced GHG emissions by about 11-12 Giga tonnes CO2 equivalent per year through its ODS phase-out activities which amounts to 5-6 times reductions targeted by the Kyoto Protocol during first commitment period of 2008-2012.

Another major achievement of the Montreal Protocol is universal ratification of the Montreal Protocol. All the countries of the world are committed to fight against the depletion of ozone layer.

This successful implementation and achievements would have not been possible without the close cooperation of all the Parties, and stakeholders especially the industry in developed and developing countries, academic and scientific institutions, NGOs media, etc. The Scientific community of the EEAP, SAP and TEAP, the Ozone Secretariat, the Multilateral Fund Secretariat, the implementing agencies viz UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO, the World Bank and the bilateral agencies have played a key role in making the Protocol a great success. On the occasion of 25th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, India would like to congratulate all of them on this historic meeting.

Mr. President, India's contribution and achievements toward the protection of the stratospheric ozone and implementation of the Montreal Protocol are multifold. The ODS producing and consuming industries in the country were motivated by creating extensive awareness about the ill-effects of the ozone layer depletion in the early stage of the Montreal Protocol. Simultaneously, activities related to the Montreal Protocol were initiated as early as 1989 by establishing a Task Force for evaluating the use of ODSs and estimating sector-wise consumption of ODSs.

India not only developed and put in place policies/regulations for phase-out of ODSs as per the Montreal Protocol schedule within the country but also played a visionary role since the inception of the Montreal Protocol including key policy negotiations. India negotiated very hard for setting up the financial mechanism as early as 1990 to provide the technical and financial assistance to the developing countries for implementation of the Montreal Protocol obligations. Today, the financial mechanism has proved to be a key element in making the Montreal Protocol a successful environmental treaty.

India became a Party to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in 1991 and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1992. India during the last 20 years has made significant contributions for the protection of the ozone layer. A comprehensive Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 were developed and placed in July 2000. These ODS Rules have been amended from time to time to align with the Montreal Protocol and national policy decisions on phase-out of ODSs. These Rules proved to be utmost effective for the successful implementation of ODSphase-out in a vast country like India. Another significant achievement was phase-out of production and consumption of virgin halons as early as 2002, being high-ODP chemicals.

India phased-out the use of CFCs and halons in manufacturing of new equipments as early as 1st January, 2003. This not only reduced the consumption of CFCs and halons but also reduced the inventory of CFC and halon based equipments in the country which would have required these ODSs for servicing in future years. India also accelerated the phase-out of production and consumption of CFCs with effect from 1st August, 2008, 17 months ahead of the Montreal Protocol schedule except use of pharmaceutical grade CFCs in manufacturing of Metered Dose Inhalers (MDIs).

It may also be worth mentioning that India has gone beyond its own geographical boundaries in the endeavour of phase-out of ODSs by extending need based helping hands and cooperation with our neighboring countries of South Asia and South East Asia and Pacific.

The phase-out of ODSs in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which are widely scattered were handled using an innovative approach realizing that SMEs are having relatively a large share in Indian economy, several sector-wise umbrella projects were formulated in a number of sector/sub-sectors, viz. aerosol, foam manufacturing, refrigeration manufacturing, use of CTC in metal and garment cleaning etc. The phase-out of use of CFCs in Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning (RAC) servicing sector was an extremely challenging task because it involved the informal sector comprising of a large number of very tiny enterprises. The National CFC Consumption Phase-out Plan (NCCoPP) and some other bilateral projects provided training on good servicing practices to more than 20,000 servicing technicians. This was one of the significant achievements addressing the informal sector in the country.

India successfully phased out production and consumption of CFCs, CTC and halons as of 1st January, 2010 except use of pharmaceutical grade CFCs in manufacturing of MDIs. The National Strategy for Transition to Non-CFC MDIs and Plan for Phase-out of CFCs in the Manufacturing of Pharmaceutical MDIs has been implemented very effectively and with an accelerated pace which has resulted in phase-out of CFCs in manufacturing of MDIs and India withdrew the Essential Use Nomination (EUN) for 2011 and committed not to seek EUN for 2011 and beyond.

Mr. President, the job of protection of the Ozone Layer is not yet over. There are still many challenges ahead of us. The phase-out of next category of chemicals commonly known as Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) is beginning in developing countries as per the accelerated phase-out schedule of the Montreal Protocol vide decision XIX/6 of the 19th MOP held in 2007. The implementation of accelerated phase-out of HCFCs is a very challenging task especially in developing countries like India where there is a domination of SMEs and the technologies are still emerging.

We hope that the same spirit of goodwill and common understanding that was critical in the success of the first phase of the Montreal Protocol will continue, and the developed world will remain committed to fulfill their obligations to the developing countries in meeting the challenges of HCFC phase-out.

In recent years, some Parties to the Montreal Protocol have proposed amendments to the Montreal Protocol to bring phase-down of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the ambit of the Montreal Protocol. These amendment proposals have been put forth again and again for the past 4 years.

India has been raising a number of queries to understand legal, technical and policy implications of the proposed amendment as HFCs are non-ODS chemicals and are covered under the Kyoto basket of gases. The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer are specific treaties and were signed to protect human health and the environment against adverse effects resulting from modification of the ozone layer. There is no scientific evidence that HFCs can modify the ozone layer. Therefore, HFCs which are non-ODSs do not fall within the purview of the Vienna Convention and its Montreal Protocol and we still look for clarity on this subject.

HFCs being the high-GWP gases, these are part of the Kyoto basket of gases along with other GHGs. The emissions of HFCs are already controlled by the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to address adverse effect on the climate, if any. Moreover, five years agothe MOP while adjusting the Protocol to accelerate the phase-out of HCFCs decided to encourage the use of low Global Warming Potential (GWP) substitutes. The Protocol is having appropriate mechanism to reduce the penetration and consumption of HFCs as substitutes to HCFCs.

Mr. President, India would like to emphasize that we should gear up to meet the challenges of HCFC phase-out program and focus our attention on issues like destruction of unwanted ODS banks for the speedy recovery of the Ozone Layer.

Thank you for your kind attention.

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