CEE wins US ecology award

The Centre for Environment Education (CEE) in the city was recently awarded the US Environmental Protection Agency 2009 Stratospheric Ozone Layer Protection Award. And with this it has been placed as among the world’s most accomplished organisations, working to protect the Earth’s Ozone layer.

CEE was given the award in the category of organisation/association that has taken the initiative of pioneering the ozone layer protection drive globally. It had been working on the Ozone Action Programme of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and through this it has provided technical assistance for the benefit of National Ozone Units, industries and other stakeholders in Article-5 countries - all the developing countries that are eligible for receiving multilateral fund to carry out phase out activities of ozone depleting substances (ODS) like hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC).
Director of CEE Kartikeya Sarabhai received the award at an event organised by the US environment protection agency at Washington DC.

While referring to the centre’s association with the UNEP, head of CEE’s Industry Initiative Programme R Gopichandran said, “We have been associated with the ozone action programme for almost 15 years now; our only aim is to spread awareness among the media and other specific target groups, including industries.”

“We are undertaking a reality check to find out about the possible problems in the use of non-ozone depleting chemicals. Our studies and findings in the area have been converted into guidelines that will restrict all the article-5 countries from using ODS, particularly solvents. We were also invited to participate in evaluating the performance of various recipients of multilateral funds and examine how committed they have been in saving the ozone layer,” added Gopichandran.

Presently, CEE is working in collaboration with UNEP on the development of HCFC phase out management plan. “We are also playing a significant role in understanding how to capture and destroy ODS banks, which includes refrigerators and air conditioners which are no longer in use,” said Gopichandran. “The activity is also directly related to the mitigation of climate change impact since the ODS banks act as catalyst to global warming,” he added.