The executive board of the Montreal Protocol has extended a $6.7 million grant to 30 Iranian manufacturing firms to make modifications in their industrial products so as to lessen the production of ozone depleting substances(ODS), an official said.
The board oversees international efforts carried out under the protocol, which aims to protect the ozone layer from destruction.
Iran's representative to the 34th Conference of Montreal Protocol, Fereydoun Rostami, told the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, that the 28 industrial units which would benefit from the grant were located in the provinces of Tehran, Qazvin, Mazandaran, Qom, Khorasan, Yazd, East Azarbaijan and Isfahan, which are involved in production of refrigerators, light sponge and auto parts.
Rostami said that the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Vienna-based United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the German Development Organization were promoting the Montreal Protocol under the supervision of the Iranian Department of Environment (DOE) and the office in charge of protecting the ozone layer.
He said that the 34th conference of the Montreal Protocol held in Quebec, Canada, in July decided to extend a $47 million facility to developing countries' industries to enable them to lessen the production of ozone depleting substances.
The 1987 Montreal Protocol was formulated to the Vienna convention for the protection of the ozone layer (1985) which provided for a 50 percent reduction in the production of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCS) by 2000.
An amendment to the protocol adopted in 1990 required complete cessation of the production of CFCS by 2000 in industrialized countries and by 2010 in developing countries.
These deadlines were extended to 1996 and 2006, respectively, in November 1992, said the agency - Albawaba.com
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