Governmental policies on hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) mitigation and its cleaner production measures – case study in Taiwan

Taiwan, a small island country located in the southeastern rim of Asia, is playing a vital role of mitigating hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) mitigation, although it is not a signatory to the Montreal Protocol. Furthermore, the Government has established a ministry-level organization, National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD), for pursuing sustainability in this country and fulfilling its responsibility as a member of the international community. In this paper, the description was thus centered on reviewing the current uses of HCFCs and its current consumption status and cleaner production measures adopted by the local industries in Taiwan, and summarizing the governmental policies on promoting HCFCs mitigation through the encouragement of regulatory, economic and financial approaches. The preliminary analyses of the achievements of HCFCs mitigation in comparison with other relevant socioeconomic statistics were also discussed in this paper. It was concluded that Taiwan was in a positive trend to mitigate HCFCs consumption in the past decade (1996–2005) under the promotion of its policy framework. Further, the successful case could be developed into a sustainable development indicator in the environmental pollution dimension, thereby providing a demonstrated example for other island and developing countries in progress toward global sustainability.