Peking University, Dec.6, 2012: 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the 24th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol was held on November 12-16 in Geneva, Switzerland. On the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, Environmental Compliance Team（ECT）from the Peking University (PKU) College of Environmental Science and Engineering was widely recognized.
PKU-ECT was praised by the Ozone Secretariat of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for its outstanding contributions to the Montreal Protocol fulfillment and the ozone layer protection. Professor Zhang Shiqiu and Professor Tang Xiaoyan were awarded for their valuable contributions and efforts in the Assessment Panel. Prof. Shao Min was elected the new co-chair of the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel.
Professor Zhang has been a member of the TEAP and its Economics Options Committee for 15 years. She has been instrumental in many studies, including the Task Forces on Replenishment of the MLF. She helped create objective estimates that repeatedly satisfied all Parties and proved, in retrospect, to be sufficient for all necessary project funding.
As one of the most influential individuals in facilitating the Chinese government’s decisions to endorse the Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol, Professor Tanghas been co-chair of the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel under the Montreal Protocol since 1993.She served as team leader to draft the Chinese Country Program and updated the Country Program in 1991 and 1997. In addition, she guided the team from Peking University in developing 13 sector plans for ozone-depleting substances (ODS) phase-out in China.
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances. It was opened for signature in Montreal, Canada, on September 16, 1987, and entered into force on January 1, 1989. UNEP, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and other global environmental organizations all recognized it as "one of the greatest progress in the global environmental protection in the 20th century".
Carrying out the research on the environment and development issues from multidisciplinary perspective, PKU-ECT is one of the most important institutes of technology and decision-making in the implementation of the Montreal Protocol in China. Since 1987, it has made remarkable achievements in ODS phase-out and global climate change, and raised over 600 million U.S. dollars multilateral funds. Under the auspices of PKU-ECT, Country Programme to Phase Out Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer , approved by the State Council, was made.
Zhang Lijun, vice minister of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, spoke highly of the Country Programme in his speech to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol. He pointed out that thanks to Montreal Protocol and Country Programme, in 2010, China reduced approximately 500,000 ozone-depleting potential (ODP) -tonnes emissions of ODS and got rid of about 15 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent fluorinated greenhouse gases consumption. The emission reduction is close to the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol targets for all developed countries in 2008-2012 (20 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year).
For the outstanding contribution to the implementation of the Montreal Protocol, PKU experts have won numerous international and domestic environmental awards. Prof. Tang Xiaoyan, Zhang Shiqiu and Hu Jianxin got the "Ozone Layer Protection Gold Award" issued by State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) of China in 2004 and the “Ozone Layer Protection Award” issued by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency（EPA）in 2005. In the same year，16 experts including Prof. Tang and three Nobel Prize winners shared the "Ozone Layer Protection Convention Award" jointly issued by UNEP and WMO. In 2006, Prof. Hu was honored "UN 60th Anniversary UNEP Ozone Protection Awards". In the next year, Prof. Zhang won the UNEP “Technology and Economic Assessment Panel Champion Awards" for her extraordinary service to the Parties to the Montreal Protocol and the global effort to protect the ozone layer, and she, in collaboration with Professor Tang Xiaoyan and Professor Hu Jianxin, also was rewarded “China Leadership Team for Excellence in Protocol Compliance", "in recognition of the most exceptional global contributions in the first two decades of the Montreal Protocol. "
For the "efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change", Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)received the 2007 Nobel Peace Award. Therefore, Prof. Zhu Tong and Hu Jianxin, shared the prize jointly issued by UNEP and WMO with other IPCC scientists, because they engaged in the IPCC/TEAP of drafting Special report on safeguarding the ozone layer and the global climates system .
Reported by: Ji Fan
Edited by: Zhang Jiang
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
http://ozone.unep.org/new_site/en/ozone_day_details.php
