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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 1, NUMBER 3, SEPTEMBER 1988

REPORTS

Item #d88sep5

Stones in a Glass House--CFCs and Ozone Depletion, D.G. Cogan, 147 pp., July 1988. Order from Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), 1755 Massachusetts Ave. NW, S.-600, Washington DC 20036 (202-939-6500). Price $35.

The IRRC compiles and impartially analyzes information on the activities of corporations in society, on activities of institutional investors, on efforts to influence such activities, and on related public policies. It is financed mainly by its several hundred member financial institutions. This report provides a synopsis of the entire CFC situation and includes well-designed graphical and tabular summaries. It covers the extensive roll CFCs play in daily life, industry and commerce; a history of concerns and policy development before the discovery of the ozone hole; research results on the ozone layer since 1985; recent national and international policy developments; and implications for various industries that produce and use CFCs and halons.

Released just prior to the U.S. EPA's final CFC regulation (see related NEWS item, this Global Climate Change Digest issue--Sep. 1988), the report concludes the regulations will lessen the threat posed to the Earth's ozone layer and mitigate the global warming trend, but will not fully solve these problems. A key question for policymakers is whether we should rush to eliminate these chemicals from production, imposing greater economic hardship, or wait for more alternatives to emerge, thereby imposing more serious environmental and health consequences. The study estimates that yearly earnings for Du Pont, Allied-Signal and Pennwalt could increase by as much as $245 million, $125 million and $65 million, respectively. Producers downplay the prospect of such profits and say any profits will be invested in development of substitutes. A variety of approaches being taken by industrial consumers of CFCs to prepare for restricted supplies are summarized.

If measures are taken to control other greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides, the ozone depletion effect could be magnified, unless we take into account complex feedback loops among environmental problems.

Item #d88sep6

Human Response to Global Change: Prospectus for an International Programme--Second Edition, April 1988, 35 pp. Request from HGRCP Secretariat, 39 Spadina Rd., Toronto, Ont. M5R 2S9, Can. (415-926-7570).

This draft was prepared by the International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study (IFIAS) on behalf of the steering committee of the Human Response to Global Change Program (HRGCP), to assist in the international HRGCP symposium being held this month in Tokyo (see Global Climate Change Digest, NEWS, July 1988). The HRGCP is attempting to develop an international research initiative that will apply the social sciences, humanities, and expertise derived from the management of human activities to global change, in a program that is intellectually rigorous, responsive to social needs, and creative. The prospectus outlines the current debate over the tasks, goals, and structures involved. It covers dimensions of the program, initial and current activities, and a provisional schedule and budget for 1988-1991, and includes related documents.