Emissions of Heat-trapping CFC-Substitutes to Triple by 2010

On May 14, 2004, the Ozone Layer Protection Policy Office of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) published a follow-up report on emission control measures for three types of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) substitute gases - hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Reductions of these gases were agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol.

Emission control measures for CFC substitutes have primarily been pursued through the industry's voluntary action plan. In 2003, 22 business associations from eight fields decided to participate in the plan, and total emissions of CFC substitutes were reduced to 48 percent less than levels in 1995, base year of the Kyoto Protocol, amounting to 25.8 million tons in carbon dioxide equivalent.

Emissions of CFC substitutes are expected to soar in future due to the full-scale replacement of ozone-depleting hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) with HFCs as insulating material and coolant in air-conditioners and refrigerators. Based on this trend, METI estimates that emissions around 2010 will range from 61.1 million to 73.7 million tons if current trends continue. These figures match the emissions target of 73 million tons stipulated in Japan's Climate Change Policy Programs, established in March 2002, but it also amounts to three times the current level.

Since the global-warming potential of these gases is extremely high, from 1,300 to 23,900 times higher than that of carbon dioxide (CO2), they were designated as substances to be reduced by the Third Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997. The global warming effects produced by the targeted CFC substitute gases amount to 3 to 4 percent of all greenhouse gas effects.



Posted: 2004/10/01 01:56:01 PM
Japanese version