Historic Agreement Safeguards Both Climate and Ozone Layer

Historic Agreement Safeguards Both Climate and Ozone Layer

Historic Agreement Safeguards Both Climate and Ozone Layer

MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada, September 22, 2007 (ENS) - In an unprecedented agreement, industrialized and developing countries have decided to accelerate the phaseout of coolant chemicals that are harmful to the ozone layer and also are a cause of global climate warming.

Representatives of 191 countries that are Parties to the Montreal Proctol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer agreed unanimously Friday to accelerate phaseouts of hydrochlorofluorocarbons, HCFCs, from 2009.

HCFCs originally were approved as substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs, that were known to deplete the ozone layer back in 1987 when the Montreal Protocol came into force.

Preparatory segment Co-Chairs Marcia Levaggi, Argentina, and Mikkel Sorensen, Denmark smile as agreement is reached. (All photos courtesy Earth Negotiations Bulletin)

This year, during five intense days of negotiations at the 20th anniversary Montreal Protocol conference, the historic deal was reached to accelerate the phaseout of HCFCs.

The details of the agreement - who phases out what and how much, who pays, and under what timetables - are to be made public later today by Canadian Minister of Environment John Baird and UN Environment Programme Executive Director Achim Steiner.

The agreement is unique in that it focuses on ozone recovery and also aims to reverse climate change, a benefit that was not foreseen in earlier understandings of how the stratospheric ozone layer relates to the planet's temperature and climate.

The accelerated phaseout willl potentially achieve five times the expected climate change benefits under the Kyoto Protocol under the most optimistic but unlikely scenarios. Considering the difficulties the Kyoto Protocol has had in achieving its objectives, the new Montreal agreement is even more important.

Brian Mulroney, who was Prime Minister of Canada in 1987 when the Montreal Protocol took effect, said, "It doesn't really matter whether the process is called Kyoto or something else, as long as we are addressing the urgency of global warming."

UNEP Head Achim Steiner

Steiner said there is great synergy between the two treaties.

"The Montreal Protocol is successfully assisting in the repair and recovery of the ozone layer. The Kyoto Protocol is tackling perhaps the greatest challenge of our generation - climate change. However, what is also emerging in 2007, and emerging with ever greater clarity, is that both treaties are mutually supportive across several key fronts," he said.

The Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism has led to the destruction of large volumes of the very potent greenhouse gas HFC-23, a by-product of the production of the coolant HCFC-22.

Currently, it is the only reliable mechanism available to prevent emissions of this gas in the short term, according to a new report by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel of the Montreal Protocol released in Montreal this week.

Didier Coulomb International Institute of Refrigeration

Didier Coulomb of the International Institute of Refrigeration told delegates that environmentally friendly refrigerants have been developed.

Alternative cooling technologies such as thermoelectrics, thermoacoustics, acoustic compression, magnetic cooling, and gas cycles such as the Stirling cycle open up more possibilities, he said. Natural refrigerants, especially carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons, are making inroads in some parts of the world. Three recent projects use solar energy to operate air-conditioning systems.

Coulomb stressed that any decision on refrigerants should differentiate between industrial and non-industrialized countries and that cooperation and funding are vital to transfer technologies.

Developing countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Switzerland and several low-lying Pacific island nations brought new scientific findings to the table nearly nine months ago, when new research showed the added benefits of ozone replenishment to slowing climate change. They urged acceleration of HCFC phaseouts over 10 years instead of 40, the timetable that was in effect until today.

U.S. EPA Head Stephen Johnson

Supporters of the accelerated phaseout plan include the United States, Europe and China, who all helped tip the political balance to secure an agreementl.

Argentina, one of the most aggressive supporters of the phaseouts, was instrumental in informing negotiating ozone delegations and environmental ministries over the last several months of the large climate benefits that could be reached by linking the Montreal and Kyoto Protocols.

Argentina, Brazil, the United States and China, played a key role in helping steer negotiations during the Meeting of Parties in Montreal, when the deal seemed stuck due to negotiating teams' inability to get beyond technical hurdles. Finally, the historic agreement was reached in the final hour.

Scientists say the elimination of HCFCs could potentially quintuple the most optimistic objectives set by the Kyoto Protocol.

Some delegates in Montreal point to the unique linking of the two treaties and distinct sets of global environmental objectives as an indication that we are seeing a maturation of the world's global environmental governance system, and a sign that collaborative global environmental agreements can work.

David Doniger, NRDC

"This week's deal will sharply cut global emissions, especially by reducing large HCFC increases expected in the next decade from China and India," said David Doniger, policy director of the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"The Bush administration deserves credit for working with other countries to push for faster cuts in HCFCs. The quicker phaseout will help heal the ozone layer and reduce skin cancer. Reducing HCFCs also helps cut global warming pollution," he said.

Looking ahead to the meeting of the world's largest global warming polluters in Washington next week, Doniger added, "We could not have protected the ozone layer with voluntary pledges and non-binding goals. That won't work for global warming either."

"The Montreal ozone treaty is a model for progress on global warming," said Doniger. "It shows that a binding treaty ?with industrial countries taking the lead and with real pollution limits for both developed and developing nations ?can successfully cut global pollution and trigger a clean technology revolution."