India Inc wants HCFC phase-out streamlined
Indian industry is at loggerheads with the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) insisting that the phase-out of the next category of HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) chemicals should be done according to the schedule adopted by the Montreal Protocol.
Indian industrialists argue that they have been proactive in the ozone depleting substance (ODS) phase-out and the first halon facility to have been closed down globally was an Indian one. “In the same way, the CTC production was also phased out ahead of schedule,” said an industrialist.
But the technology transfer for production sector, which was promised under the Montreal Protocol, has not been made available to the sub-continent, they argue. Their other grouse is that compensation for the phase-out is much less than the “incremental costs” being incurred by the production sector.
One industrial analyst argued, “In 2007, HCFC-2 phase-out and accelerated phase-out schedule had been agreed upon, based on HFCs being readily available as viable substitutes. But this has not happened.’’ While minister of environment Jayanthi Natarajan, speaking at a function to celebrate Ozone Day, assured that all ozone depleting substances would be phased out. However, some substances would remain in the stratosphere because of their long atmospheric life.
Industry leaders argue that two changeovers in a short span of time is hardly affordable for a country like India since there are technical and economical issues involved in the changeover.
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