Oman has implemented plans to protect the ozone layer

Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Environment Authority, participates in the celebration of the International Ozone Day, which falls on September 16 every year.

This year the theme of the celebration was "Advancing Climate Action" which reflected the crucial role of the Montreal Protocol in protecting the ozone layer and driving broader climate action initiatives worldwide.

The Sultanate of Oman has implemented many policies, programmes and control procedures, through which it was able to achieve compliance requirements by reducing and stopping the use of the most important ozone-depleting substances, as the consumed quantity reached zero at the beginning of 2010 for halons and chlorofluorocarbons, as well as for methyl bromide, starting in 2015.

The Sultanate of Oman is implementing the third phase of the hydrochlorofluorocarbons Phase-Out Strategy Project in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

The project aims to implement several activities in the field of training and awareness, and review and develop national procedures and regulations in line with the requirements of the Montreal Protocol during the next phase.

The EA is also reviewing and evaluating the licensing system for ozone-depleting substances and their alternatives in the customs declaration system, in cooperation with the General Directorate of Customs of the Royal Oman Police, and studying the approval of centres for the recovery, recycling and reclamation of ozone-depleting substances in the Sultanate of Oman in cooperation with the relevant authorities, in addition to studying the establishment of professional licenses for technicians working in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour.

As for hydrochlorofluorocarbons, for which the Montreal Protocol has set a gradual reduction schedule beginning with freezing consumption starting in 2013 and ending with their complete elimination by the beginning of 2030.

The Sultanate of Oman has taken many measures that have enabled it to achieve the reduction requirements stipulated in the Protocol, such as distributing import quotas to all importing companies, achieving a 10% reduction rate in 2015 and a 35% reduction rate in 2020 for those substances, and moving forward with the gradual elimination of ozone-depleting substances by 67.5% by 2025.