Ozone: Blokland hails the miracle of Montreal

Remember the hole in the ozone layer? In the 1980's there was incredible fear about the cataracts and cancer it could cause if allowed to continue. The problems persist but the international agreement at Montreal in 1987 helped reduce ozone-unfriendly products by 95%. Tuesday night MEPs debated a report on efforts to update the EU regulation that covers the Montreal accord. Ahead of the debate we spoke to the report's author, Dutch Independence and Democracy MEP Hans Blokland.
Born in Oegstgeest in the South of Holland in 1943, trained as an economist and elected to the European Parliament in 1994, Hans Blokland is one of the most recognisable faces in Brussels and Strasbourg.
 
Montreal has meant ozone recovery
 
We asked him how successful the steps take at Montreal had been: “The Montreal Protocol is seen as one of the most successful of all international environmental agreements. The worldwide production and usage of substances that deplete the ozone layer has been decreased with 95% since the peak in 1988” he said.
 
“Research shows that the ozone layer is slowly recovering thanks to control measures introduced by the Protocol. Average and Arctic ozone levels are now expected to recover by 2050 and the Antarctic ozone hole will do the same between 2060 and 2075.”
 
Fatal skins cancers avoided
 
Keen to see the practical aspects of the protocol we asked Mr Blokland what in practical terms the protocol has done: “The controls introduced under the Montreal Protocol will avoid millions of fatal skin cancers and tens of millions of non-fatal skin cancers and cataracts worldwide,” he said.
 
Elaborating further he told us that “these controls will help to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to more than 100 billion tonnes of CO2 between 1990 and 2010, since most of the substances have high global warming potential and many ozone depleting substances are greenhouse gases”.