The 30th Anniversary of China's Accession to the Montreal Protocol and the Meeting to Commemorate the 2021 World Ozone Day was held in Beijing on September 16. The meeting was co-hosted by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and was organized by Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center, MEE. Mr. Zhao Yingmin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of MEE, attended and addressed the meeting.
The Government of China has always attached great importance to ecological and environmental protection. Over the past 30 years since its accession to the Montreal Protocol, China has contributed its solutions and wisdom to the implementation of the Montreal Protocol by strengthening international cooperation, establishing compliance mechanism, phasing out ozone depleting substances (ODS) in sectors and focusing on technological innovations. To date, China has phased out roughly 500,000 metric tons of ODS and has made significant contributions to the protection of ozone layer and mitigation of climate change.
The meeting stressed that China has announced the target on carbon emission peak and vision of carbon neutrality. It is planned to strengthen the control of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), so as to play a positive role in addressing climate change. On Sept 15, control measures on the implementation of the Kigali Amendment for HFC control went into effect nationwide. China will continuously improve law and regulation system, gradually carry out controlled substances phase out, study and develop HFCs management measures, support technological innovation of enterprises, continue to enhance supervision and law enforcement, and deepen international cooperation to make new contributions to the protection of ozone layer and mitigation of climate change.
Ms. Megumi Seki, Executive Secretary of the UNEP Ozone Secretariat, Mr. Eduardo Ganem, Chief Officer of the Multilateral Fund Secretariat, relevant officials of General Administration of Customs and representatives of relevant UN agencies attended and addressed the meeting. The video on the 30th anniversary of China's accession to the Montreal Protocol was played at the meeting, and the Thematic Forum on the 30th Anniversary of China’s Accession to the Montreal Protocol was held.
The meeting was held both online and offline. The meeting was attended by more than 200 guests from international agencies and bilateral and multilateral organizations, member ministries of the National Leading Group for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, relevant departments and bureaus of MEE, local ecological and environmental bureaus, research institutions, industrial associations, enterprises and Implementation Expert Panel.
