“We have wisely joined technology with policy to start healing the earth’s protective ozone layer,” said John Mandyck, Carrier’s vice president for government and international relations, speaking at the EPA event.

The world community gathered in Montreal, Canada, in 1987 to form the Montreal Protocol, which phases out ozone depleting substances across the globe. In the Sept. 16 issue of OZONEWS, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Anan said, “Life started to develop significantly on our planet only after the ozone layer was in place in the stratosphere to filter out harmful levels of sunlight. The battle to repair this life-sustaining system is far from over.”

Under the Montreal Protocol, potent ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were eliminated in new applications by 1996 in the U.S. and other developed countries, and will be completely phased out in developing countries in 2010.

Hydrochlroflurocarbons (HCFCs), transitional gases that deplete the ozone layer to a lesser degree than CFCs, will be phased out of new products in the United States beginning in 2010. The European Union started its HCFC phaseout schedule in 2001, while developing nations may use the substances until 2040. Both CFCs and HCFCs have been used as refrigerants for air conditioning and refrigeration systems among other applications.

“We have come a very long way to stabilize the ozone layer,” said Mandyck. “To maintain that progress, we can’t afford to deviate from the Montreal Protocol’s phaseout schedule, and we should accelerate ozone protection wherever possible.”

Noting that a competitive market now exists for ozone friendly products, Mandyck said, “Consumers and businesses can play a constructive role by choosing non-ozone depleting alternatives today.”

Since 1994, the EPA has presented four of its Stratospheric Ozone Protection Awards to Carrier for leadership in ozone protection.

Publication date: 09/16/2002