Croatia is HCFC Free 26 years before the deadline set by the Montreal Protocol
As stated by the Ministry of Environmental and Nature Protection on December 17, 2015, Croatia is the first country in the world to completely abolish the use of Chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC), one of the most damaging substances to the ozone layer.
„We are proud that Croatia is the first among 149 other countries in the world to abolish the use of HCFC, 26 years before the final deadline set by the Montreal protocol“ said Marija Šćulac Domac, Assistant Minister.
Project designed to abolish the use of HCFC in Croatia started back in 2010 and it was financed by UNIDO along with the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund. All cooling devices in the State owned buildings were replaced by HCFC free devices and by the end of 2015 retrofitting will be performed on 19 more devices in public institutions.
As a part of the HCFC free project, the Ministry donated 8 air-conditioning systems to various technical high schools across the country in order to educate future generations of students how to install and maintain HCFC free devices. Based on this national programme, more than 25 projects were implemented worth over 30 million kuna over the last 15 years in Croatia, all financed by the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of Montreal Protocol and the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund.
Šćulac Domac also stated during her address today that the Montreal Protocol is the most successful international treaty which enabled significant reduction of ozone depleting substances, meaning that the complete recovery of our ozone layer is expected by 2050.
