HCFCs/HFCs : INDUSTRY'S SOLUTIONS TO THREATENED PROFITS

When the international community was compelled by the pending ozone crisis to phase out CFCs the chemical industry scurried to develop new products to maintain its lucrative worldwide monopoly. In fact, the industry manouvered to forestall regulatory measures until they had their substitute products in place.

Dr. Mostafa Tolba, former head of the UN Environment Programme was quoted in the June 30, 1990 edition of The New Scientist, "...the chemical industry supported the Montreal Protocol in 1987 because it set up a worldwide schedule for phasing out CFCs, which [were] no longer protected by patents. This provided companies with an equal opportunity to market new, more profitable compounds."

Since the signing of the Montreal Protocol, the industry has steered the international community towards the wide scale use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as replacements for CFCs. These products are patented by the chemical industry, and the industry maintains full control over production, supply and pricing. As long as non-in-kind alternatives could be prevented from entering the market, the industry's global monopoly would be safeguarded.

The chemical industry maintains an extensive international lobby, and expends vast resources, promoting its products. For example, on December 1, 1992 the London Financial Times reported that Du Pont had invested $450 million in HCFC and HFC production, and expects to hit the $1 billion mark in 1995, with an expected recovery period for the investment of no less than ten years. The company claims to require another ten to twenty years of HCFC and HFC production to profit above and beyond recouping their investment.

However, HCFCs and HFCs are not environmentally sustainable and therefore they represent oboslete technologies. HCFCs are ozone depleting substances and are now scheduled for phase-out under the Montreal Protocol. HCFCs are slated to be phased out in industrialized (Article 2) countries by 2020, and many of these countries are aiming for a much faster phase out schedule. Meanwhile, Article 5, or industrializing countries are to phase out by 2040.

In addition, both HCFCs and HFCs are potent global warming gases. Mr. Sven Auken, the Danish Minister of the Environment, expressed it well in his September 4, 1996 opening speech to the International Conference of the Use of Natural Refrigerants in Aarhus, Denmark:

"Two of the global environmental problems which cause me the greatest concern are the greenhouse effect and the threat to the ozone layer....But we cannot solve one problem at the expense of another....

...Concentrating exclusively on reducing CO2 emissions to prevent a rise on the greenhouse effect is not enough. We must also limit the emission of other greenhouse effect gases. HFCs are some of them....HFCs and other greenhouse effect gases must be regulated under the Climate Convention. I think that everybody agrees on that....

Recent estimates of the potential impact of HFCs upon the atmosphere indicate that by the year 2040, the total global HFC market could be around 1.35 million tonnes a year, which would be the equivalent to 15% of current fossil fuel emissions.