Speaking at the 2011 Meeting of SEAP Network of Ozone Officers, Nguyen Khac Hieu of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said Vietnam already completed the phase-out of CFC in early 2010 and is starting its HCFC phase-out.

Hieu, deputy director of the ministry’s Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change, said the Montreal Protocol’s multilateral fund has agreed to fund US$10 million for the first stage of the programme.

The programme will follow a roadmap to reduce 10 percent of HCFC use in 2013 and 32 percent in 2015. The country had 3,700 tonnes of HCFC substances by 2010.

Luong Duc Khoa from the department said the phase-out is scheduled for completion in 2040. “But if we can mobilise a fund of around US$200 million, we can complete the phase-out by 2025,” he said.

As coordinator of the global Ozone Protection Programme in Vietnam, Khoa said the country is the first in Southeast Asia to start the HCFC phase-out substances. He called for companies using HCFC substances to use new technology for the use of non-HCFC substances.

Three HCFC substances, including HCFC22, HCFC23 and HCFC141B, are used in air conditioning systems, sponge production and cold warehouses in Vietnam.

12 companies involved in the programme will receive funding and consultation to eliminate the use of HCFC. By 2015, no HCFC141B will be used in the country, according to Khoa.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will use a quota for import of HCFC141B this year and ban the import by 2013.