HC Deb 09 November 1992 vol 213 cc570-1W
Mr. Chris Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he intends to put to international colleagues in relation to the Montreal protocol with regard to reductions in the use of methyl bromide.

Mr. Maclean

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 November to the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes),Official Report, column 372.

Mr. Chris Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what reductions he forecasts would be achieved in ozone damage as a result of(a) a 25 per cent. reduction in the use of methyl bromide by 1995 and (b) a complete phasing out of the use of methyl bromide by 1995.

Mr. Maclean

An international science panel has recently assessed current understanding of the impact of methyl bromide on the ozone layer at the request of the United Nations Environment Programme on behalf of the contracting parties to the Montreal protocol. Estimates of the impacts of methyl bromide were not made in the exact terms asked for but indicated that immediate elimination of anthropogenic methyl bromide would provide ozone layer protection comparable to that of an advance of the chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and carbon tetrachloride (CC14) phase-out schedule by about one and a half to three years.

Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will ensure that the air conditioning system of the new headquarters of his Department does not use chlorofluorocarbons as an integral part of the system.

Mr. Maclean

Environmental considerations are taken fully into account in the selection of new buildings for the Government estate. In the case of the proposed new headquarters for the Department of the Environment, none of the buildings that have been evaluated uses chlorofluorocarbons in its air conditioning systems.