Journal
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
Volume 23, Issue 13, Pages 7383-7398Publisher
COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH
DOI: 10.5194/acp-23-7383-2023
Keywords
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The production and consumption of CFC-11, CFC-12, and CCl4 have been controlled and phased out globally since 2010. However, evidence suggests an increase in global emissions of CFC-11 in the last decade. This study focused on evaluating the emissions of these gases in western Europe and found a declining trend from 2008 to 2021. Rating: 8/10
Production and consumption of CFC-11 (trichlorofluoromethane, CCl3F), CFC-12 (dichlorodifluoromethane, CCl2F2) and CCl4 (carbon tetrachloride) are controlled under the regulations of the Montreal Protocol and have been phased out globally since 2010. Only CCl4 is still widely produced as a chemical feedstock. After 2010, emissions of CFC-11 and CFC-12 should therefore mostly originate from existing banks (e.g. from foams, mobile air conditioning units and refrigerators); however evidence has emerged of an increase in global emissions of CFC-11 in the last decade, some of which has not been fully accounted for. The motivation for this work was to assess the emissions of CFC-11, CFC-12 and CCl4 from western Europe. All countries in this region have been subject to the controls of the Montreal Protocol since the late 1980s and, as non-Article 5 Parties, have been prohibited from producing CFCs and CCl4 for dispersive use since 1996. Four different inverse modelling systems are used to estimate emissions of these gases from 2008 to 2021 using data from four atmospheric measurement stations: Mace Head (Ireland), Jungfraujoch (Switzerland), Monte Cimone (Italy) and Tacolneston (UK). The average of the four model studies found that western European emissions of CFC-11, CFC-12 and CCl4 between 2008 and 2021 were declining at 3.5% yr(-1) (2.7% (-1)-4.8% yr(-1)), 7.7% yr(-1) (6.3% yr(-1)-8.0% yr(-1)) and 4.4% yr(-1) (2.6% yr(-1)-6.4% yr(-1)), respectively. Even though the emissions were declining throughout the period, the area including northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg showed consistently elevated emissions of CFC-11 compared with the surrounding regions. Emissions of CFC-12 were slightly elevated in the same region. CCl4 emissions were the highest in the south of France. France had the highest emissions of all three gases over the period 2008-2021. Emissions from western Europe (2008-2021) were on average 2.4 +/- 0.4 Gg (CFC-11), 1.3 +/- 0.3 Gg (CFC-12) and 0.9 +/- 0.2 Gg (CCl4). Our estimated decline in emissions of CFC-11 is consistent with a western European bank release rate of 3.4% (2.6 %-4.5 %). This study concludes that emissions of CFC-11, CFC-12 and CCl4 have all declined from 2008 to 2021 in western Europe. Therefore, no evidence is found that western European emissions contributed to the unexplained part of the global increase in atmospheric concentrations of CFC-11 observed in the last decade.
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