§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the scientific evidence for the impossibility of maintaining an immediate freeze in the level of CFC emissions at the 1990 level; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. TrippierThe Montreal protocol, and the European regulation which implements it, control production and consumption of CFCs rather than emissions. Between 1986 and 1989 the United Kingdom cut its consumption by 50 per cent. and consumption continues to fall. CFCs are still needed in some applications where substitutes are not yet available. We will be pressing for the earliest possible phase out of CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances in the negotiations towards the 1992 protocol revision which start early next year.