§ 32. Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment at what date he expects the United Kingdom to meet the Montreal protocol target of a 50 per cent. reduction in the use of chlorofluorocarbons.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe Montreal protocol requires cuts of 50 per cent. in the consumption of cholorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by 1999. We expect this to have been achieved by the United Kingdom by the end of this year, 10 years ahead of schedule.
§ 61. Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what further action he intends to take to diminish the use and encourage the recycling and safe disposal of chlorofluorocarbons.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe Environment Council of the European Community has, in response to a United Kingdom initiative, called for the Montreal protocol to be strengthened so as to require production and consumption of chlorofluorocarbons to be reduced by 85 per cent. as quickly as possible with a view to their elimination by the end of the century. We shall be pressing for this to be agreed as the protocol is reviewed over the next 12 months. Such a change would give further impetus to the search for and application of substitutes and to the recycling of existing CFCs. The question of the safe destruction of CFCs will be considered by the parties to the Montreal protocol at their first meeting in Helsinki next month.