The Vietnam Government Portal has quoted the Head of the Climate Change Department at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Tang The Cuong as telling a conference in Hanoi on December 18 that Vietnam has successfully reduced its annual hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) consumption by 35 per cent, from 3,600 tons to 2,600 tons during the 2020-2024 period in an attempt to protect the ozone layer.

The conference was held to assess the HCFC Phase-out Management Plan - Stage II (HPMP II) project sponsored by the World Bank (WB) and carried out by the Climate Change Department from 2018-2023.

HCFCs are used in several industries, including refrigeration and air conditioning, fire extinguishers, foam, and solvents.

One of five countries suffering the most from climate change, Vietnam has constantly made efforts to protect the ozone layer and mitigate the impact of climate change for many years following the Montreal Protocol as well as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In September 2019, the government issued a resolution ratifying the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, under which the country would build a roadmap for control over and reductions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) between 2024 and 2045.

One of the achievements made in the task so far is the introduction of legal regulations on ozone layer protection in Article 92 of the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection and guiding documents that will take effect from January 1 next year.

The Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987 and entered into force on January 1, 1989. It is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion.

It has been ratified by 197 countries and been one of the most successful environmental agreements to date. A united global effort to phase out ozone-depleting substances means that today the hole in the ozone layer is healing, in turn protecting human health, economies, and ecosystems.

Vietnam became a signatory of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 and the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol in 1994.