EFFORTS to speed up the phasing out of chlorofluorocarbons in China may be unwittingly encouraging illegal trade in the ozone-depleting chemicals. If this trade continues unabated, repair of the Antarctic ozone hole will be set back years.
An undercover investigation has revealed how lax trade controls are fostering a booming black market in Chinese CFCs. This news comes hard on the heels of a study suggesting that even without illegal CFC trading, the springtime hole in the Antarctic ozone layer is likely to close 15 years later than had been predicted.
Under the Montreal protocol, rich nations have already stopped making CFCs. But developing countries, including China, have until 2010 to phase out production. Since 1997, China has closed 31 of its 37 officially sanctioned CFC plants, bringing down legal CFC production from 45,000 tonnes per year to 18,500. And last year, China announced that it would bring forward its ...
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