VietNamNet Bridge – The Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol has approved non-refundable aid worth US$10 million for Vietnam’s program to phase out the ozone-denting chemical hydrochlorofluorocarbon in 2012-16.

The grant was announced by Luong Duc Khoa, a coordinator for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s ozone-related activities, in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday at an annual ASEAN conference on the implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

The money would be allocated to 12 leading manufacturers of foam materials across the country who are expected to replace all their technologies and production lines to eliminate 500 tons of HCFCs by 2015, he said.

HCFCs are man-made, non-flammable gases used as refrigerants and for producing foam materials.

They act in the upper atmosphere to destroy the ozone layer which helps to protect the earth's surface from harmful ultraviolet radiation.

The gas is also one of the causes global warming.

Vietnam has imported around 3,700 tons of HCFCs in the past few years, the Department of Hydrometeorology and Climate Change.

To completely eliminate HCFCs, Vietnam needs US$30 million over the next 20 years, it added.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre