Summary of The United States Environmental Protection Agency Press Release

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on 26 February 2009 that Dr. Stephen O. Andersen (EPA Climate Protection Partnerships Division) along with co-authors Drs. Guus J.M. Velders (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency), John S. Daniel and David W. Fahey (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and Mack McFarland (DuPont Fluoroproducts) have earned its prestigious Level II Scientific and Technological Achievement Award for notably excellent research in support of environmental protection.

In the paper, the research team synthesized stratospheric ozone and climate science to show that past actions under the Montreal Protocol had dramatically protected climate by leading to reduced atmospheric amounts of ozone-depleting substances, compounds which are also greenhouse gases that warm climate. In addition, the team outlined what actions could further protect climate.

“The science policy presented in the Velders paper energized diplomats and citizens to take action on climate outside of the Kyoto Protocol,” said Dr. Mario Molina, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. “Parties to the Montreal Protocol have taken another step in sustaining the Earth.”

“The Montreal Protocol community is proud that policy to protect the stratospheric ozone layer is based on the best available scientific knowledge,” said Marco González, Executive Secretary of the Ozone Secretariat. “People of the Earth owe these dedicated scientists a debt of gratitude for helping to make the environment safe for future generations.”

“This is policy-relevant research at its finest,” said Durwood Zaelke, Director of the International Network for Environmental Compliance & Enforcement (INECE). “In one elegant paper diplomats were able to see for the first time that the Montreal Protocol had already pulled the climate back from catastrophe and that further efforts to protect the ozone layer would also protect the climate even more.”

For further information, please contact:
Dr. Stephen O. Andersen, Co-Chair UNEP TEAP, andersen.stephen@epa.gov
Dr. Guus J.M. Velders, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, guus.velders@pbl.nl

To learn more about The EPA’s Science and Technological Achievement Awards (STAA), please visit: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/staa/about_staa.html

To see the full article please visit http://www.pnas.org/content/104/12/4814.full