By DPA
Montreal : Environment ministers and senior officials from 191 nations huddled for marathon talks here to hammer out a deal on a crucial environmental treaty.
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) spokesman Nick Nuttall said Thursday that negotiations to freeze production and phase out use of ozone-damaging chemicals known as hyrdrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) were expected to continue overnight and perhaps into Friday.
“On the eve of the final day, we are optimistic that governments here can indeed negotiate an agreement on the rapid freeze and phase out of HCFCs,” Nuttal told DPA.
“It’s important to remember that governments arrived here in Montreal and together all agreed from the outset that this was something they wanted to achieve. But the devil is in the details.”
Nuttal said that there had been disagreements about the dates and timings of the freeze and phase out.
The calendar established by the 1987 Montreal Protocol calls for developed countries to stop using ozone-depleting chemicals – found in many refrigerators, air-conditioning units and hairspray – by 2030, and for developing nations to follow suit by 2040. But the US and the European Union, backed by UNEP, want to move that final phase-out forward by 10 years, Nuttal said.
“There is also a debate about: are the governments of developing countries satisfied that there is enough money in the pot to actually pay for the switch in technology that would be required?” Nuttal said.
Developed countries have agreed in principle to cover the incremental costs for developing countries to switch to new technologies, but nobody knows exactly how much it will cost, he said.
Other countries want assurances that if they do join the global initiative, it would not lead to significant economic disadvantages, Nuttall said.
South Africa, for example, which has a big mining sector, wants assurances that any accelerated freeze or phase out of HCFCs will not affect the air-conditioning in its mines, he said.
After the even more damaging chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were banned by international in the 1980s, the chemical industry developed hyrdrochlorofluorocarbons as an interim replacement in refrigeration, air conditioning and other applications.
The Earth’s ozone layer, which screens out ultraviolet radiation from the sun, was damaged by CFCs, contributing to rising rates of human skin cancer.
But increasing world affluence has vastly increased demand for HCFCs in air conditioning and raising the ozone-layer damage from the newer chemicals. HCFCs also produce a harmful carbon emission called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which contribute to global warming, Nuttall said.
Durwood Zaelke, president of the Washington-based Institute of Governance and Sustainable Development, an environmental research and advocacy group, said he was confident that a compromise could be found despite the unresolved issues.
“I think there is tremendous momentum for a decision to accelerate a phase-out of HCFCs, and to do it in a way that captures the maximum benefits for climate change as well as for ozone protection,” Zaelke said.