(MENAFN- Jordan Times) The Montreal Fund has approved funding Jordan's strategy to phase out the use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC), substances that damage the ozone layer, officials said on Wednesday.
The strategy's first phase aims at reducing 20 per cent of HCFCs by the year 2017 by replacing central cooling systems using the substance, banning the import of home appliances that use the harmful mixture of gases and powering air conditioning systems with solar power, according to the Ministry of Environment.
"The Montreal Fund executive committee has approved financing the first phase of our strategy, which seeks to eventually stop the use of HCFCs in cooling systems and fund a pilot project that utilises solar power for operating air conditioning systems," Environment Ministry Secretary General Ahmad Qatarneh said.
Qatarneh made the remarks during a ceremony marking the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, celebrated annually on September 16.
Around 1,600 institutions in Jordan have central cooling systems that use HCFCs, which are compounds made up of hydrogen, chlorine, fluorine and carbon atoms that were created in the 1980s as substitutes for CFCs for use in refrigeration and a wide variety of manufacturing processes, according to the ministry.
In 2010, Jordan received a $2.16 million grant from the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol to support the disposal of ozone-depleting chemicals used in cooling systems.
The Kingdom is a signatory to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of a number of substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion.
The environment ministry's national strategy for phasing out HCFCs was launched in September last year.
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