PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
F-GASES REGULATION AND HYDROFLUOROCARBONS (16 May 2005)

That this House notes that hydrofluorcarbon chemicals (HFCs) used in refrigeration and air-conditioning have on average 2,274 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide; recalls the statement, firstly, in the UK Climate Change Programme that HFCs are not sustainable in the long-term, and secondly, by the Deputy Prime Minister, the Right honourable Member for Hull East on 9th March 2000, that the UK's plan for implementing the Kyoto Protocol included a clear signal to industry that HFCs have no long-term future; therefore expresses concern that in its Regulation on Certain Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases, the European Commission is in danger of missing the opportunity to accelerate the replacement of HFCs by alternatives; questions both the Commission's and the UK Government's reliance on a policy of HFC leakage containment; welcomes the publication by Atlantic Consulting on 26th February 2004 of the report HFC Containment Has Already Failed, which calls into question the use of containment as a policy tool for controlling HFC emissions; and calls on the Government to act in accordance with its past commitments and the present evidence to ensure a phased ban of HFCs over the next 10 years.

Sponsored by:
Sir Bill Wiggin (Conservative)