Ozone Layer Depletion

Abstract

The Montreal Protocol on ozone layer protection is frequently cited by politicians as the most successful international effort to protect the environment (Gore, 2006: 294). It is also considered by analysts as a clear example of the prominent role of business in environmental regime-building (Levy, 1997; Oye and Maxwell, 1995). Leading chemical firms, such as DuPont, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and Hoechst, strongly influenced the negotiation positions of their respective home governments. Having initially opposed, and later supported, an internationally binding ozone regime, the chemical industry helped to make the Montreal Protocol a success by developing alternatives to ozone-depleting substances. As the case of ozone layer depletion suggests, the political economy of state-firm relations plays directly into the dynamics of global environmental politics. But what lessons does the Montreal Protocol experience hold for other environmental issues? Do corporations, because of their unrivalled economic power, possess a dominant, even ‘hegemonic’, position in this global policy area? Or is their power limited, because of divisions in the business sector and the mobilization of social power in global civil society? This chapter traces the evolution of business involvement in ozone politics from the origins of the ozone crisis in the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s.