Tough limits to save ozone layer forecast

Date: 25/06/1998

By Simon Coss

THE chemical industry has reacted with dismay to plans for the phasing out of materials which damage the ozone layer currently being drawn up by the European Commission.

Officials argue that proposals to be unveiled by Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard next Wednesday (1 July) for updating a 1994 EU law would ensure that Europe leads the way in tackling a grave environmental menace.

But industry says they would place an unnecessary burden on the Union's chemical producers. “We feel they are penalising the Union's chemical industry and that could cost jobs,” said Nick Campbell of chemicals giant ICI.

Bjerregaard's plan will deal with three main ozone-depleting substances: chloro-fluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochloro-fluorocarbons (HCFCs) are both used as refrigeration agents, and methyl bromide is a pesticide.

The Commission will propose a ban on the sale and use of CFCs except in 'essential' circumstances, completing a programme to phase out the substances set in motion by the 1994 rules.

Bjerregaard will also call for HCFCs, which were originally introduced in the late 1980s as a temporary replacement for CFCs, to be phased out between 2001 and 2004, and argue for a 2&percent; ceiling to be imposed on HCFC production.

This second initiative aims to prevent European chemical companies building up export markets for their HCFCs. But Campbell argues that this will simply put European firms at a disadvantage in global markets.

He says the Commission should limit itself to ensuring the Union achieves the reductions in ozone-depleting substances set out in a 1992 protocol to the 1987 Montreal Convention - an international agreement which sets less stringent standards than those Bjerregaard is calling for. “We shouldn't go further than the Montreal Protocol. It will have a minimum environmental impact if Europe goes it alone,” he insisted.

Officials in the Commission's Directorate-General for the environment (DGXI) say they have already weakened their original plans for limiting HCFC production under pressure from the Directorate-General for industry (DGIII).

Bjerregaard is also set to call for a ban on methyl bromide in the EU by 2001 even though, under the Montreal deal, developing countries have until 2015 to phase out the pesticide.

Farmers in Spain, Greece and Italy have already complained of facing unfair competition from North Africa if they have to comply with a 2001 deadline.