28TH WORLD OZONE DAY

Recently, India observed 28th World Ozone Day.
Every year, 16th September is observed as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone layer (World Ozone Day) to commemorate the signing of the Montreal Protocol.
The theme of World Ozone Day 2022 is “Montreal Protocol@35: global cooperation protecting life on earth”.

Highlights of World Ozone Day

The 23rd edition of “The Montreal Protocol: India’s Success Story” was released.

The other publications of the Ozone Cell of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change released on the occasion include:

Action Plan for implementing the recommendations of the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) for the thematic area space cooling in buildings.
iStudy Report on Public Procurement Policies for Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning (RAC) Equipment using non-Ozone Depleting Substance (ODS) based refrigerants.
Study Report on Cold Chain sector in India for promoting non-ODS and Low-Global Warming Potential (GWP) Refrigerants.
Booklet on Good Servicing Practices for Energy Efficient operation of Room Air conditioners.
The winning entries for a national level poster making and slogan writing competition for school children on ‘Save Our Ozone Layer’ were announced.
Call for adoption for Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE) that’s in line with the concept of sustainable lifestyle, encouraging us to adopt mindful and not mindless consumption and utilization of resources.
Collaboration with eight Indian Institutes of Technology (Bombay, Roorkee, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Guwahati, Banaras, Madras and Delhi) to promote research and development of chemicals with low global warming potential, including blends. These can be used as alternatives to substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol.
It will also help promote the Make in India initiative of the Government.

India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP)

The Indian Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) was launched in March 2019 by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
The ICAP provides a 20-year perspective and outlines actions needed to provide access to sustainable cooling.

The plan seeks to:

Reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38
Reduce refrigerant demand by 25% to 30% by 2037-38
Reduce cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38
Recognise “cooling and related areas” as a thrust area of research under National Science and Technology Programme
Training and certification of 100,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23, synergizing with Skill India Mission.

Significance:

Implementation of actions emerging from ICAP will supplement efforts in adopting climate-friendly alternatives and promotion of energy efficiency during the implementation of Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phase-out under the Kigali Amendment.
This will significantly contribute to India’s climate action in achieving the net zero emissions by 2070, through the ‘Panchamrits’, committed by the Prime Minister of India, at the 26th Climate Change Conference of Parties (CoP26) in 2021.

Ozone Layer

Ozone is a special form of oxygen with the chemical formula O3. The oxygen we breathe and that is so vital to life on earth is O2.
About 90% of ozone occurs naturally in the Earth’s upper atmosphere (Stratosphere) between 10 and 40km above Earth’s surface, where it forms a protective layer that shields us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.
This “good” ozone is gradually being destroyed by man-made chemicals referred to as Ozone-Depleting Substances (ODS), including CFCs, HCFCs, halons, methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride, and methyl chloroform.
When chlorine and bromine atoms come into contact with ozone in the stratosphere, they destroy ozone molecules.
One chlorine atom can destroy over 100,000 ozone molecules before it is removed from the stratosphere.
Ozone can be destroyed more quickly than it is naturally created.
Ozone layer depletion leads to an uptick in the incidence of skin cancer and cataracts in humans.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT

Post Views: 48