Estimated historic emissions of fluorocarbons from the European Union

Abstract

Emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and one hydrofluorocarbon (HFC-134a) from Europe have been estimated for the years 1986–1996 with a precision in most cases better than ±20%. During that period, sales of CFCs have reduced to virtually zero but they are still being emitted from the “bank” in use in equipment. These emissions are calculated to have fallen dramatically; however the largest releases are still of CFC-11, at 44,000 tonnes in 1996. Significant contributions to the total emission of ozone depleting substances from the European Union during 1996 were also made by HCFC-22 (35,000 tonnes) and CFC-12 (9000 tonnes); releases of other CFCs and HCFCs into the atmosphere from the EU are markedly less. On the other hand, emissions of HFC-134a (which is not an ozone depleting substance) would appear to be growing rapidly and could have reached 12,000 tonnes yr -1 in 1996. HFC-134a is a replacement for CFC-12, releases of which are calculated to have declined much more than the growth in HFC-134a. This leads to the conclusion that substitution of one by the other has been much less than 100% and is actually smaller than had been projected by market research in the early 1990s.