Canada and Mexico have joined the United States in proposing to expand the scope of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to fight climate change. The proposal would phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

The U.S. EPA led the analysis in the proposal. The agency believes that reducing HFCs would help slow climate change and curb potential public health impacts.

During the phaseout of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) under the Montreal Protocol and the Clean Air Act, manufacturers of equipment such as car air conditioners and kitchen refrigerators substituted HFCs. The trilateral proposal would phase down HFCs, which are up to 14,000 times more damaging to the Earth's climate system than CO₂, according to EPA statistics.

Signed in 1987, the Montreal Protocol is a treaty with 196 countries to help restore the ozone layer by ending the production of ozone-depleting substances and now potentially phasing down HFCs.

The public is encouraged to provide comments to docket number EPA-HQ-2009-0286 at www.regulations.gov.

More information on the trilateral proposal is available at www.epa.gov/ozone/intpol/mpagreement.html.

More information on the four replacement chemicals is available at www.epa.gov/ozone/snap

Source: EPA news release