Technology Assessment for the Montreal Protocol

Abstract

The existence of the TEAP is a result of the visionary thinking of the original drafters of the Montreal Protocol. In 1987, the Parties to the Protocol recognized that over time, our scientific understanding of ozone layer depletion and its effects would improve. While the original control measures seemed both supportable by the scientific understanding of the day and a real challenge for industry, the architects of the Protocol realized they could turn out to be inadequate to protect the ozone layer, and much easier to achieve than industry believed or acknowledged at the time. They also realized that technological innovation would likely make future controls more technically and economically feasible, and that improved scientific understanding of the mechanisms of ozone depletion could demonstrate that more stringent controls could be necessary to protect the ozone layer. As a result, a process of continual assessment of science, technology and economics was built into the Montreal Protocol.