Jamaica Ahead of 2025 HCFC Target

Jamaica is way ahead of the national target for phasing out the use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

Project Manager in the National Ozone Unit at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), Vivian Blake, said 2018 figures show that Jamaica is at 55 metric tonnes of imports.

This is way below the national target, which is 241 metric tonnes of allowed imports of HCFCs by 2025.

He was speaking at a JIS Think Tank on September 11 to highlight the work of the National Ozone Unit.

The reduction in imports of HCFCs is in keeping with the country’s commitments under the 1987 United Nations Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

The Montreal Protocol, which was ratified by 197 countries, sets national targets to phase out the manufacture and use of ozone-depleting substances, which include chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Jamaica phased out the use of CFCs in refrigeration in 2006, four years ahead of the protocol’s schedule.

“Since then, the alternatives to the CFCs, which are highly ozone-depleting substances – the HCFCs – came on stream and Jamaica is actively, along with its stakeholders, phasing out these substances,” Mr. Blake said.

“They contribute to global warming because they are powerful greenhouse gasses. Already, we have alternatives to these, which are natural refrigerants,” he added.

HCFCs are used in refrigeration and air-conditioning units as alternatives to CFCs. However, the use of HCFCs will also be phased out under the Montreal Protocol.

The National Ozone Unit reports that the hole in the ozone layer is healing at a rate of one to three per cent per annum.