The European Union has proposed stronger restrictions for developing countries on the production of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), one of the alternatives to ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), government sources said Tuesday.
The proposal was made ahead of a U.N. conference for signatory states of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, an international pact to protect the ozone layer, slated for December in the African country of Burkina Faso.
HCFCs are used as coolants in products including air conditioners and as foaming agents in refrigerators, in place of CFCs, the production and consumption of which were banned in developed countries in 1995.