After the Convention of Vienna (1985), the Protocol of Montreal is the second worlwide cooperation attempt to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by reducing or even eliminating anthropogenic ozone depletion substances, mainly halogenated hydrocarbons containing either chlorine (CFCs) or bromine (halons). Those ozone-depleting substances are also powerful greenhouse gases.
The protocol entered into force on the 1st January 1989 and has been signed by 191 countries up to now. Since 1989, the protocol has been modified 5 times (the last time was in Beijing in 1999).
The depletion of the stratospheric ozone has as an environmental consequence that more ultraviolet-B radiation reaches the surface of the planet (inducing a higher risk of skin cancer, damage to crops and to marine phytoplankton) and that the ozone depletion interacts with the climate change process.
Unfortunately, it has now been proved that several alternative substances, HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) and HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons), used to replace the progressively phased-out ozone-depleting substances, still have a great potential impact on the climate change. The protocol calls for a complete phase-out of HCFCs by 2030 in developed countries and by 2040 in developing countries, but does not place any restriction on HFCs up to now.
Transport was not targeted as such by the protocol but many substances covered by the protocol, such as refrigerants in refrigerated vehicles for fresh goods, gases used in air conditioning systems, etc. are/were in use within the sector. A major stake in the future to reduce these would be to replace current cooling fluids by other substances or mixes of substances having a lower global warming potential.
Related documentation : text of the Montreal Protocol
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