Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Chemical pollution · United States · 1974–2019

DuPont CFC phase-out and the ozone treaty

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured. Disputed
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 4 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Did the evidence in early 1988 justify stopping CFC production?
  • Government and regulators Three US senators: Asked DuPont in February 1988 to stop making CFCs. web.njit.edu
  • Company or project DuPont: On 4 March 1988 its chairman said the evidence did not yet justify dramatic cuts; about three weeks later it announced a phase-out. web.njit.edu

In February 1988 DuPont declined a request from three US senators to stop making CFCs; in late March 1988 it announced a phase-out. The Montreal Protocol's 2016 Kigali Amendment later regulated HFCs, which do not harm ozone but are potent greenhouse gases.

about 25% of world, about 50% of USDuPont's share of the CFC supply, as reported in 1989
Christian Science Monitor, 9 August 1989.

Status As of the latest record reviewed: the Kigali Amendment entered into force on 1 January 2019; no litigation is recorded in the sources reviewed.

What?
DuPont refused then announced a CFC phase-out in 1988; the Kigali Amendment later regulated HFCs. web.njit.edu
Where?
United States (Senate request, DuPont); Kigali, Rwanda (2016 amendment). UNEP Ozone Secretariat
When?
February to March 1988; Kigali Amendment 10-15 October 2016, in force 1 January 2019. UNEP Ozone Secretariat
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Ozone-depletion science from 1974 and the Ozone Trends Panel findings in March 1988 preceded the phase-out announcement. web.njit.edu
How?
DuPont announced a phase-out as substitutes became available; Kigali phases HFCs down in CO2-equivalent. UNEP Ozone Secretariat
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who

What happened

The record, in order.

In June 1974 Molina and Rowland published in Nature a paper on the chlorine-catalysed destruction of ozone by chlorofluoromethanes. Wide attention followed an American Chemical Society press conference in September 1974.

In February 1988 three US senators asked DuPont to stop making CFCs. On 4 March 1988 DuPont chairman Richard Heckert wrote back refusing, saying the evidence did not yet justify dramatic cuts.

About three weeks later, in late March 1988 and after the findings of the Ozone Trends Panel that month, DuPont announced that it would phase out CFC production as substitutes became available. The announcement set no firm timetable at first. The Christian Science Monitor reported in August 1989 that DuPont supplied about 50% of US CFCs and about 25% of world CFCs.

The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol was agreed at the 28th Meeting of the Parties in Kigali, Rwanda, held 10 to 15 October 2016, and adopted on 15 October 2016. It entered into force on 1 January 2019. It adds 18 HFCs (Annex F) plus HFC-23 to the controlled substances and phases down production and consumption measured in CO2-equivalent: developed countries to 15% of baseline by 2036, with developing countries on later schedules. Overall it cuts HFCs by more than 80% over about 30 years.

HFCs do not harm ozone but are potent greenhouse gases.

  1. 1974Molina and Rowland paper on CFC destruction of ozone published in Nature (June)
  2. 1988February: three US senators ask DuPont to stop making CFCs. 4 March: DuPont chairman declines. Late March: DuPont announces phase-out as substitutes become available
  3. 1989Christian Science Monitor reports DuPont supplied about 50% of US and about 25% of world CFCs
  4. 2016Kigali Amendment adopted 15 October
  5. 2019Kigali Amendment enters into force 1 January

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Did the evidence in early 1988 justify stopping CFC production?
Government and regulators
Three US senators

Asked DuPont in February 1988 to stop making CFCs.

web.njit.edu
Company or project
DuPont

On 4 March 1988 its chairman said the evidence did not yet justify dramatic cuts; about three weeks later it announced a phase-out.

web.njit.edu

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • DuPont chairman Richard Heckert wrote on 4 March 1988 that the evidence did not yet justify dramatic cuts in CFC production.
    DuPont · web.njit.edu
  • In late March 1988 DuPont announced it would phase out CFC production as substitutes became available.
    DuPont · web.njit.edu

Recorded

  • Molina and Rowland, Nature 249 (5460): 810-812, dated June 1974 by Crossref.
    Crossref
  • DuPont supplied about 50% of US CFCs and about 25% of world CFCs (Christian Science Monitor, 9 August 1989).
    Christian Science Monitor
  • Kigali Amendment: 18 HFCs plus HFC-23 added; developed countries to 15% of baseline by 2036; more than 80% overall cut over about 30 years; in force 1 January 2019.
    UNEP Ozone Secretariat
  • A DuPont executive described ozone science as "pure science fiction" (1974-1975, as reported; no URL for this item in the sources reviewed).

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: USD · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • DuPont (March 1988): Chairman Richard Heckert declined the senators' request on 4 March 1988, saying the evidence did not yet justify dramatic cuts; DuPont then announced a phase-out in late March 1988 as substitutes became available. · web.njit.edu

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

CFC producer response
Declined 4 Mar 1988; phase-out announced late Mar 1988
DuPont supplied about 25% of world CFCs
HFCs under the Kigali Amendment
No ozone harm; potent greenhouse gases
Phase-down: more than 80% over about 30 years

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No court caseNo independent ecological evaluation

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
  • Disputed Did the evidence in early 1988 justify stopping CFC production?

Court

Record

  • None on record The exact day of DuPont's March 1988 announcement: it is widely dated 24 March 1988, but no primary source was opened to confirm the day.
  • None on record The announcement set no firm timetable at first.
  • None on record The exact issue date of Molina and Rowland's paper: Crossref dates it June 1974; 28 June is believed but not confirmed.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a DuPont Freon unit executive reportedly said the end of a USD 3 billion CFC market would be replaced by "enormous market potential" for substitutes.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the dates of the Montreal Protocol (1987) and the expected recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole around 2066.

Did the harm stop?

Not assessed in the sources reviewed.

Who paid?

Not established in the sources reviewed.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society✓ Researchers✓ International bodies

Press and investigations

Communities and civil society

Researchers

International bodies

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Carbon and conservation finance

Baseline
The projected scenario of what would have happened without a project, such as an expected rate of deforestation. Credits are issued for the difference between the baseline and what actually happened, so an inflated baseline produces more credits.

Science and environment

PFOA (C8) and PFAS
PFAS are a large family of human-made chemicals that persist in the environment and the body; PFOA, also called C8, is one of them and was used to make Teflon.
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