Reproduced, with permission, from:
Levy, M. A., Robert O. Keohane, and Peter M. Haas. 1992. Institutions for the earth: Promoting international environmental protection. Environment 34 (4): 12-17, 29-36.
Three sets of international agreements now control chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), known since the 1970s to threaten the Earth's ozone layer: the 1985 Vienna convention, a weak "framework" agreement lacking concrete controls; the 1987 Montreal protocol, which cut production of CFCs by 50 percent; and the 1990 amendments to the protocol that phase out CFCs and other chemicals and help fund developing countries to comply. More than 70 countries have joined the fight to cut CFCs, and world CFC use is down by more than 20 percent, far ahead of the control schedule.
This remarkable achievement, widely lauded as the most successful case of environmental diplomacy to date, was driven by three factors: evolving scientific understanding, strong national leadership at key points, and international institutions that structured and, at times, advanced deliberations among nations.
International institutions advanced the CFC phaseout process in three ways. First, international experts provide a widely credible forum for disseminating information that prompted concern about CFCs and increased confidence in the feasibility of eliminating them. Indeed, scientific and technical panels in 1989 were so effective that the 1990 phaseout agreement was achieved essentially without difficulty. Second, continuing CFC phaseout negotiations facilitated coordination of proposed control measures, which increased concerned governments' confidence that their own costly measures would be reciprocated and that they would be able to craft incentive-changing measures to bring less concerned governments into the treaty. Third, international measures adopted In 1990 increase the capacity of both developing and industrialized nations to achieve their phaseout goals. For developing countries, funds are available to subsidize investments in CFC alternatives. For all nations, international bodies provide for rapid sharing of information on new technical options.
However, this case of successful environmental diplomacy holds sobering lessons. The CFC phaseouts now seem to represent the right measures too late and may be insufficient to avert serious ozone loss.