The Montreal Protocol: a model for addressing
Climate Change?
The discovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica
in 1984 was spectacular confirmation that CFCs were
destroying the ozone layer. This lead to the Montreal Protocol, the only example of an
international agreement to combat a global
environmental problem.
The Montreal Protocol was signed in
1987, soon after the discovery of the ozone hole. It was amended in
1990 and 1992.
It will gradually phase out the
production of ozone-destroying CFCs. CFC production ended in the U.S. and Europe in 1996,
and is slated to end in less developed countries in
2010.
Countries that did not participate
are subject to trade sanctions by the countries that did.