The Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee (MBTOC) was established by parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to identify existing and potential alternatives to methyl bromide (MB). This 2002 Assessment reports on MB usage, the quantities produced and consumed, and existing and potential alternate treatments for its use as a fumigant.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was designed so that the phase out schedules could be revised on the basis of periodic scientific and technological assessments. Since the 2002 Assessment of the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, a large number of technical developments have taken place. The Panel's six Technical Options Committees have each issued a 2006 Assessment Report that document these developments. The present publication contains the report on methyl bromide. Publishing Agency: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

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The 2002 assessment report, produced under the Montreal Protocol on ozone depleting substances, finds that technical progress has been made by the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump industry to comply with requirements to phase out CFCs and in several applications, HCFCs as well. However, there is still a significant amount of installed refrigeration equipment still using CFCs and HCFCs, and so service demand remains high and is best minimised by preventive service, containment, retrofit, recovery and recycling.

'Imagine the pride of earning the Nobel Prize for warning that CFCs were destroying the ozone layer. Then imagine that citizens, policymakers, and business executives heeded the warning and transformed markets to protect the earth. This book is the story of why we can all be optimistic about the future if we are willing to be brave and dedicated world citizens.' MARIO MOLINA, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and Professor, University of California This book tells how the Montreal Protocol, the most successful global environmental agreement so far, stimulated the development and worldwide transfer of technologies to protect the ozone layer.Technology transfer is the crux of the 230 international environmental treaties and is essential to fighting climate change. While debate rages about obstacles to technology transfer, until now there has been no comprehensive assessment of what actually works to remove the obstacles. The authors, leaders in the field, assess over 1000 technology transfer projects funded under the Montreal Protocol s Multilateral Fund and the Global Environment Facility, and identify lessons that can be applied to technology transfer for climate change."