Published: Sunday, January 02, 2005
Bylined to: VHeadline.com Reporters
China and Venezuela to stop production of ozone-depleting CFCs in 2007
Japan's Kyodo News reports that China and Venezuela have decided to stop producing chlorofluorocarbons and some other ozone-destroying substances from 2007, sources involved with the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer said Sunday.
The latest move means that in several years there will no longer be any production on the globe of some of the most potent ozone-depleting substances, including CFCs, mainly used as refrigerants, and halons, which are fire extinguishing agents.
China and Venezuela decided to close factories that produce CFCs and other substances that deplete the stratospheric ozone layer by the end of 2007, more than two years earlier than stipulated in the protocol, the sources said.
Japan and other industrialized countries have already stopped producing CFCs and similar greenhouse gases, while major developing countries such as India and Mexico have also decided to halt their production.
''A system of this protocol involving developed countries setting up a multilateral fund and providing financial assistance and promoting measures in developing countries played a big role,'' one source noted. ''This is a landmark achievement in the history of global environmental issues.''
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