The U.S. proposal joins other similar proposals this week by an array of developing and industrialized nations including Argentina, Brazil, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Mauritius, Mauritania, Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland. HCFCs are used as refrigerants in air conditioners and refrigerators, as blowing agents to make plastic foams, and for other purposes. HCFCs contribute to the erosion of the Earth's protective ozone layer. HCFCs are also potent greenhouse gases. The most widely used chemical, HCFC-22, traps 1700 times more heat, pound for pound, than carbon dioxide.

Production of HCFCs in industrial nations is already being reduced under the 20-year-old international treaty for protecting the ozone layer, known as the Montreal Protocol. The treaty currently places some limits on developing countries production of HCFCs, starting in 2015. But production is growing unexpectedly fast in countries such as China and India. The goal of these proposals is to avoid unnecessary HCFC growth and accelerate reductions in both developed and developing countries.

"Accelerating the phase-out of HCFCs provides an unprecedented opportunity to reduce the impacts of climate change and ozone layer depletion," said EIA campaigns director Alexander von Bismarck. "The U.S. and other governments that submitted proposals should be applauded for their early and decisive action," he continued. "The U.S. government has made a positive proposal to cut both ozone depletion and global warming," said David Doniger, climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "A faster phase-out of HCFCs will help heal the ozone layer, cutting skin cancer and other illnesses. It will also help stop global warming, because air conditioners and refrigerators redesigned to use other refrigerants will also use less electricity.

That means countries like China and India will need to build fewer new power plants, cutting down on CO2 emissions, and helping their economies grow." Doniger and von Bismarck added that the U.S. and other industrial countries must step up financial contributions under the treaty to assist developing countries in meeting their accelerated targets. If agreed at the annual Meeting of the Parties this September, EIA estimates that an accelerated phase-out of HCFCs has the potential to prevent the production of 27.5 billion carbon-dioxide-equivalent tons of HCFCs-more than the total annual global emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning and flaring of fossil fuels.

Editor's Notes:

-- The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is an international campaigning organization dedicated to investigating and exposing environmental crime and campaigning to protect endangered species and the natural world. -- The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.

-- The Montreal Protocol was agreed on January 1, 1987 and is now ratified by 188 countries. Under the Montreal Protocol and its amendments, ozone- depleting substances are to be reduced and eliminated through the development of chemical substitutes and alternative manufacturing processes (elimination is the final objective).

-- For more information on HCFCs and ozone-climate issues, see

* Guus J.M. Velders, et. al., The Importance of the Montreal Protocol in Protecting Climate, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, March 2007.

* Donald Kaniaru, et. al., Strengthening the Montreal Protocol: Insurance Against Abrupt Climate Change, Sustainable Development Law & Policy, forthcoming, at http://www.igsd.org/about/publications/Strengthening-the- Montreal-Protocol-Mar2007.pdf

 Contact: Alexander von Bismarck Environmental Investigation Agency saschavonbismarck@eia-international.org 202-483-6621 David Doniger Natural Resources Defense Council ddoniger@nrdc.org 202-289-2403/202-445-9023