EU Environment Ministers Limit Most Destructive Climate Gases

LUXEMBOURG, October 14, 2004 (ENS) - European environment ministers are planning to limit fluorinated greenhouse gases, which are thousands of times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide. In today's Environment Council meeting they started to think ahead to climate policies after the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period which runs from 2008 to 2012.

Talks should take place as soon as possible within the United Nations about climate policies after 2012, the ministers said, and the use of fluorinated greenhouse gases in certain products must be banned.

The environment ministers are keen to hold talks within the UN to discuss agreements on emission reductions in the years after 2012. "The Kyoto Protocol is a first step; further reductions will be necessary after 2012," said the president of the Environment Council, Dutch State Secretary Pieter van Geel.

Dutch State Secretary Pieter van Geel (Photo courtesy Government of the Netherlands)

The ministers said they are looking forward to December’s UN Climate Conference (COP10) in Buenos Aires. The conference marks the 10th anniversary of the UN Convention on Climate Change. It will consider what has been achieved over that decade and assess the challenges for the future.

The EU environment ministers said they are "delighted with the progress being made towards the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in Russia" and hope that the Protocol will soon enter into force.

In addition, they stress once again the need for action to reduce emissions from the international aviation and shipping industries.

The environment ministers have decided that the sale of a number of products containing fluorinated greenhouse gases (fluorine gases) should be prohibited.

"The legislation agreed today is another element in the framework we are building to curb climate change and to implement the Kyoto Protocol," said Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström.

European Commissioner responsible for the Environment Margot Wallstrom at a UN climate meeting in July 2001 (Photo courtesy Earth Negotiations Bulletin)

These powerful gases are covered by the Kyoto Protocol. The six greenhouse gases addressed by the Kyoto Protocol are: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

It is the last three gases, the fluorinated ones, that have the highest global warming potential. The most damaging one, sulphur hexafluoride, has a global warming potential 22,200 times as great as that of carbon dioxide.

The ministers have decided to ban the use of such gases in double glazing, fire extinguishers, car tires and recreational items.

Van Geel attaches great importance to this political agreement on fluorine gases and to the EU legislation that he anticipates will be enacted to reduce the use of these powerful greenhouse gases in products.

The new legislation will also outlaw greenhouse gas leakage from cooling equipment, air conditioning systems, fire extinguishing equipment and heat pumps.

In the future, air-conditioning units in cars will not be allowed to contain fluorine gases that have too great a greenhouse effect. Until that time, leakage of these gases from such units will be subject to strict legal limits.

Traffic on the Avenue de Champs-Élysées, Paris, France (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)

In addition, before the phase out starts, vehicle air conditioners should not leak more than 40 grams of HFC-134a per year.

In addition to their climate decisions, the EU environment ministers adopted a political agreement on new European legislation on mining waste. This will oblige companies to take measures to guarantee the safety of waste disposal facilities and will ensure better protection for soil and water.

It will be designed to prevent major accidents involving catch pits and waste tips, like those that have occurred in Romania, Spain, Italy and Wales in recent years.

“The text agreed by the Council offers a good framework to tackle pollution problems posed by mining and quarrying waste - not only during the operation of waste facilities, but also after their closure”, said Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström.

“In particular, it will help prevent serious accidents such as in Spain in 1998 and at the gold mine in Baia Mare in Romania. I myself was at Baia Mare and saw the dreadful effects that the cyanide polluted water had on fish and plants in the affected rivers and on nearby wildlife."

An estimated 30 percent of the total volume of waste in the European Union originates from mining, the ministers said.

The Environment Council has also adopted conclusions on protection against high water and flooding. A European approach is necessary to better protect the European citizen against the consequences of flooding. The European Commission has been asked to present a program of action during the first half of 2005.