“We can’t just ban the import of those sub-standard refrigerators made in China. Mongolia will phase out its CFC (ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons) consumption by 2010,” said Ts.Adiyasuren, chairman of the National Committee of Ozone.

The highest consumption level of CFC was in 1999 when Mongolia imported around 20 metric tonnes. The consumption was reduced down to 3.75 tonnes per year by the end of 2005.

Alternative ozone-friendly products, that include refrigerator, air conditioner, fire-fighting foams, and aerosols, are now manufactured widely in all industrialized countries.

“Our neighboring countries have started producing ozone friendly refrigerators by using advanced technologies that are replacing CFCs. Refrigerators made in Russia, that Mongolians are starting to use widely , no longer have CFCs. China has committed to do so,” said Adiyasuren.

China’s refrigerator industry, which contributed a significant share of CFCs into the environment, is the largest in the world. Through the results of an internationally funded project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, production of most CFCs has stopped. Chinese refrigerators, that use substitutes with similar properties, are taking a “green light” from the government of China.

Smoke from Siberian forest fires, the region bordering the north of Mongolia, is blamed for the change of climate and air pollution, Adiyasuren said. He said that the largest Ozone hole over the Earth is in Antarctica, which is three times larger than the territory of China. British Antarctic Survey reported on September 14, 2006 that the ozone hole is likely to be one of the larger and deeper ones, perhaps 28 million square kilometers. The Antarctic ozone hole is usually largest in early September and deepest in late September to early October.

Mongolia’s electricity is generated by major coal-burning plants in the capital city maintaining the highest level of air pollution. The government of Mongolia is conducting studies to look into other means of electricity generators, such as small-scale hydro-power stations, and possibilities of using nuclear energy.

Mongolia officially became a Party to the Vienna convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on the substances that deplete the ozone layer in 1996. Depletion of the ozone layer leads to higher levels of a certain type of ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth's surface, which can cause the risk of skin cancer, depress the human immune system, harm plant life, reduce the population of sea life and contribute to the increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases believed to be responsible for atmospheric warming.