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Saturday, September 22, 2007

UN talks achieve faster phaseout of ozone-depleting HCFCs

 Montreal ­ Delegates at the United Nations climate conference in Montreal reached a landmark deal late Friday to accelerate by a decade the phaseout of ozone-depleting chemicals. The new timetable agreed by environment ministers and high-level officials from 191 countries, meeting under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), calls for the eventual phaseout of ozone-damaging chemicals known as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) by developing countries by 2030.

Developed countries will accelerate their phase-out and are expected to complete it by 2020.

Canadian Environment Minister John Baird, who addressed the late- night meeting, called the occasion "a historic night."

European Union chief negotiator Marianne Wenning said that the agreement was a significant step to both protect the ozone layer and fight climate change.

"We feel that the achievement of an early phaseout of HCFCs is another historic moment in the life of the Montreal Protocol," Wenning said.

The new agreement will amend the calendar established by the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which had called for developed countries to stop using ozone-damaging chemicals found in many refrigerators, air conditioning units and hairspray by 2030, and for developing nations to follow suit by 2040.

Lambert Kuijpers, co-chair of UNEP's Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, said the biggest achievement was getting China on board.

"HCFCs had seen a very big growth in the developing countries, especially in China," he said. "China represents 80 per cent of HCFC consumption among developing countries, so China has been the player in these negotiations."

Wenning said the agreement came after a tough and grueling round of negotiations, as China and other developing countries sought assurances that developed countries will contribute enough money to a multilateral fund to ease the financial burdens of switching to new technologies.

"It was a very tough but a very fair discussion," Wenning said. "And in the end, after long hours of disagreements, I'm very happy that we all came to a compromise that serves us well."

Durwood Zaelke, president of the Washington-based Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, an environmental research and advocacy group, said that accelerating the ban on HCFCs will have a positive effect not only on the ozone layer that protects the Earth from harmful solar radiation but also greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

"We have on the table 25 billion tons of CO2-equivalent that we can capture with this decision," Zaelke said. "This represents five times what the Kyoto Protocol asks their parties for the first commitment period from 2008-2012."

Between 1990 and 2002, the Montreal Protocol has already reduced climate emissions as a co-benefit by 135 billion tons of CO2- equivalent, Zaelke said.

"That has delayed climate change by up to 12 years," he said.

The HCFCs came to replace more dangerous chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

In the 1980s, a series of international treaties culminating with the 1987 Montreal Protocol banned the use of CFCs, after scientists connected CFCs to holes being arising in the ozone, the atmospheric layer that screens out ultraviolet radiation. The chemicals were considered a contributor to higher solar radiation exposure and greater growth and severity of human skin cancer.

As an interim measure to replace CFCs, the chemical industry developed hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) for use in refrigeration, air conditioning, foam production and other applications.

Meanwhile, climbing temperatures and world affluence have vastly increased demand for air conditioning, boosting production of HCFCs and their associated risks. HCHCs erode the ozone layer, if to a lesser extent than CFCs, and also produce a harmful carbon emission called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which contribute to global warming, Kuijpers said.
 

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