Bhutan Raising Gross National Happiness; Deriving Climate Benefits from Ozone Layer Protection
Today, a small country in the lap of Himalaya has taken a giant step. Bhutan, one of the few countries in the world where sustainable development is embedded in its constitution, has made a historic decision to further advance the phase out of the Hydrochlorofluoro-carbons (HCFCs) - a powerful Green House Gas and Ozone Depleting substance by ten years. Read more ...

JumpStart Partnership Achieving Climate Benefit from
HCFC Phase-out
29 July 2010, Brussels – Up to 25 GtCO2-eq. emissions between now and 2050 could be eliminated through the phase-out of Hydro-chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). Such phase-out will also bring a net benefit of advancing the recovery of the ozone layer by up to 3.3 years. Today a tool-box developed by the OzonAction Branch of UNEP DTIE, with the support of the European Commission (ENRTP), the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol, was launched to help developing countries to contribute to this goal. HCFCs are widely used around the globe in applications such as refrigeration, air conditioning and manufacturing of insulating foams. Read more ...
Read/Download the Three E-Books:
HCFC policy & legislative options
Guidance on the Process for Selecting Alternatives to HCFCs in Foams
Alternatives to HCFCs in the Refrigeration and Air conditioning Sector

The Unparalleled Success of the Montreal Protocol Shows that Action on Climate Change is Within our Grasp
Without the action prompted by the Montreal Protocol and its Vienna Convention, atmospheric levels of ozone-depleting substances would grow 10-fold by 2050. The resulting exposure to the sun's ultraviolet radiation would likely have led to up to 20 million additional cases of skin cancer and 130 million more cases of eye cataracts; it would also have caused damage to human immune systems, wildlife and agriculture. For much of the world, the time it takes to get sunburned would have been dramatically reduced, due to a 500-per cent increase in DNA-damaging ultraviolet radiation...
An excerpt from the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010
Read/Download the full report

Maldives is Walking the Talk: Deriving Climate Benefits from Ozone Layer Protection
Male, 11 June 2010- Today, President Mohamed Nasheed, the Vice President and a number of ministers from the Maldives announced an important Joint Declaration for the Implementation of the HCFC Phaseout Management Plan (HPMP) during the inauguration of the High-Level Roundtable Dialogue on HPMP and its contribution on Carbon Neutrality. Read more ...
See the events Photos Album available on OzonAction Facebook, or
Click here for other resources available from the Maldives President website

China Regulates Ozone Depleting Substances
Bangkok/ Beijing, 1 June 2010- After having closed down all its production plants for CFCs much ahead of the schedule of the Montreal Protocol, , the world's largest producer of Ozone Depleting Substances ( ODS) , China, has enacted today the Regulations on the Administration that include controls over consumption, trade, import, export and production of remaining ODS.
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