Oman celebrates World Ozone Day 2023

Oman Celebrates the World Ozone Day under the theme “Restoring the Ozone Layer and Reducing Climate Change”

Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Environment Agency, participates with countries around the world in celebrating the International Day for the Protection of the Ozone Layer under the slogan “Restoring the Ozone Layer and Reducing Climate Change,” which falls on September 16 of each year.

The Sultanate of Oman has joined: the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and its amendments in London, Copenhagen, Montreal, and Beijing. After its accession, it was classified among the countries of Article Five of the Protocol, which relates to countries in which per capita consumption of depleted substances is less.

The Sultanate of Oman has implemented several policies, programs and regulatory procedures from 2001 until now, during which it was able to achieve compliance requirements by reducing and stopping the use of the most important substances that deplete the ozone layer in the Sultanate, as the amount consumed reached zero at the beginning of 2010 for halons and chlorofluorocarbons, as well as for methyl bromide, as of the beginning of 2015.

As for hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), for which the Montreal Protocol set a gradual reduction schedule that begins with freezing consumption starting in 2013 and ends with their complete elimination at the beginning of 2030, the Sultanate of Oman has taken many programs and measures that have enabled it to achieve the reduction requirements stipulated in the Protocol so far. Such as distributing import quotas to all importing companies, and achieving a 10% reduction rate in 2015  and a 35% reduction rate in 2020 AD of those materials.

The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Environment Authority, is currently implementing the third phase of the HCFC phase-out strategy project in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Program and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

The project aims to implement many activities in the field of training and awareness, and to review and develop national procedures and regulations in accordance with the requirements of the Montreal Protocol during the next phase. In addition to reviewing and evaluating the system for licensing substances that deplete the ozone layer and their alternatives in the customs statement system, in cooperation with the General Administration of Customs at the Royal Oman Police, and studying the establishment and operation of a system of licenses to practice the profession for workers in the refrigeration and air conditioning equipment maintenance and service sector.