21 Jul 2021 News Chemicals & waste

A Cool Move: The Maldives becomes the first developing country to quit HCFCs!

Image by OzonAction

Male, 2 July 2021  ̶  The Maldives has set an example for all developing countries by becoming the first to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and the first country ever to complete an HCFC Phase-out Management Plan (HPMP) under the Montreal Protocol's Multilateral Fund. To mark this remarkable milestone, the country held a grand official ceremony online on 28 June 2021 entitled "'A Cool Move: Maldives Quits HCFC." Four current Ministers representing the Ministries of Environment, Fisheries, Tourism, and Higher Education as well as four former Ministers of Environment participated in the high-level event either in person or through video recordings.  Ms. Megumi Seki, Executive Secretary of the Ozone Secretariat and Mr. Eduardo Ganem, Chief Officer of the Multilateral Fund, also took part in the ceremony, as did UNEP, UNDP and senior Maldivian officials from Customs, National Defence and industry. This impressive guest list illustrated the wide range of stakeholders who contributed to the success of the HPMP at the national and international levels. All of them gathered virtually to celebrate this industrious island nation's "stratospheric" achievement.

Ms. Aminath Shauna, the Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology, delivered the keynote address and emphasized that the enhanced plans and strategic implementations will lead the Maldives to a net-zero, sustainable, greener and more resilient future. She further said that the Ministry has plans to initiate the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and it is in the process of amending the Ozone Act which will help to take concrete steps to this end.

Mr. James S. Curlin, Head of OzonAction in the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Law Division, congratulated the Maldives for attaining this outstanding milestone. “The Maldives' shining example under the Montreal Protocol shows that the seemingly impossible can be achieved when a country is determined to do it. This great success being celebrated today will encourage the other countries and set a good example for achieving great heights under a multilateral environmental agreement,” Mr. Curlin said. OzonAction is the lead implementing agency for the Maldives' HPMP.  

Looking back at the outset of this project in 2010, former President Mohamed Nasheed launched a decade-long initiative under the name "Hydrochlorofluorocarbon Phase-out Plan" that sought to eliminate the use of HCFCs completely by 2020.  In his speech at the time, President Nasheed said that phasing out HCFCs is like adopting a low hazardous, rather low carbon development pattern. He went on to say that though the effect of our actions will not be immediate nor impactful today, it is bound to show progress 30-years down the line. His discourse concluded with a compelling statement, "What we are trying to show is that low hazardous development pattern is possible, it is economically viable and financially feasible, and those who are bold enough to embrace the future of green technology would be the winners of tomorrow”. Those words resonate today as the Maldives drew the HPMP to a successful conclusion.

In addition to protecting human health and the environment through the elimination of ozone-depleting HCFCs, the HPMP yielded other benefits for the country and the rest of the world: Maldives has phased out 4.6 ODP tonnes of HCFC-22, which equals a reduction of over 151,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. This contributes to both Maldives’ national goal of achieving carbon neutrality and to the global efforts to combat climate change.

In 2010 alone, 67 metric tonnes of HCFCs was imported to the Maldives. Fast forward 10 years later, and that number became zero, making the Maldives the first developing nation to completely phase out HCFCs. This is a 10-year head start from the deadline set by the Montreal Protocol.

Indeed, if a small island nation like the Maldives can do it, any country can do it too!

For further information:

Mr. Shaofeng Hu
Senior Montreal Protocol Regional Coordinator
hus[at]un.org
 

View the full programme of the ceremony - A Cool Move: The Maldives becomes the first developing country to quit HCFCs!