The COP 11 of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the MOP 29 of the Montreal Protocol on the Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer were held in Montreal, Canada between Nov. 20 and 24. More than 700 delegates representing 141 countries and international organizations attended the events. Vice Minister Zhao Yingmin headed a delegation on behalf of the Chinese Government to the meeting.

Zhao shared the new reforms, philosophies, requirements, objectives, and arrangements proposed by the National Congress of the 19th CPC on building ecological civilization and protecting the ecological environment. He wrapped up the outstanding achievements that China has made in the protection of the ozone layer, and stressed that the increment to the multilateral funds between 2018 and 2020 should be based on the practical needs of the developing countries for the implementation of the Convention and Protocol, and fully comply with the principle of synchronizing the elimination of production with that of consumption.

The Ozone Secretariat granted the Policy and Implementation Leadership Award to MEP for China’s outstanding contributions to the protection of ozone layer. Zhao referred to the award as the international recognition to China’s outstanding contributions to building ecological civilization domestically and protecting the environment globally.

On the sidelines of the events, Zhao met separately with the UN Deputy Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Erik Solheim, Executive Secretary of the Ozone Secretariat Tina Birmpili, and Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna and exchanged views on the meetings’ agendas and deepening bilateral cooperation.

Montreal Protocol is an internationally recognized the most successful multilateral environmental agreement. Over the past three decades, China has contributed to phasing out over half of the ozone depleting substances that have been eliminated globally, which is, 99 percent of those substances on earth.