Ozone-depleting substances targeted
Amendment to national regulation includes stiffer penalties for violations and extends coverage to hydrofluorocarbons. Hou Liqiang reports.
Zhuang Xiangning, deputy director of the quality, safety and environmental protection department at the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, said China tops the world in the production of fluorochemicals and can produce almost all fluorochemical products.
He said it currently produces and supplies 70 percent of HFCs in the world.
Zhao Yingmin, vice-minister of ecology and environment, said China will fully implement a quota-based HFC management mechanism to ensure it can realize its target of controlling HFCs this year.
With data verification accomplished in the HFCs sector, the country has worked out a plan to cap the production and consumption of such substances and will distribute the quotas this year, he said in September at an event celebrating the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.
Zhao said China has phased out roughly 628,000 metric tons of ozone-depleting substances, and the country's efforts to phase out ODS from 1991 to 2020 avoided the emission of greenhouse gases equivalent to 26 billion tons of carbon dioxide.
