RAPID PHASE-OUT OF HCFCs AND METHYL BROMIDE URGENTLY NEEDED

Agreements at the 7th Meeting of the Parties in Vienna (1995) placed grossly inadequate controls on HCFC and methyl bromide. The Parties have another opportunity at the 9th Meeting of the Montreal Protocol, to rectify their 1995 failure by substantially speeding up the phase out of HCFCs and methyl bromide in both industrialized and developing countries.

As the UNEP Executive Director noted at the 11th meeting of the OEWG: "For Article 2 parties reductions in the use of methyl bromide and further controls on HCFCs are the two remaining options for additional action which are both technically and economically feasible and would significantly lower stratospheric chlorine and bromine abundances"¹⁴

Greenpeace analysis shows that even if the spirit, as well as the letter, of the Montreal Protocol is fully adhered to, under the present ODS control regimes, the ozone layer will not 'recover' until around 2040. Greenpeace calculations show that an emergency phase out of ozone depleting substances could accelerate recovery of the ozone layer by nearly fifteen years (to 2026) and this would reduce ozone depletion by nearly 40.

¹⁴ UNEP/Ozl.Pro/WGI/l 1/8, para.6 [return]