Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Supermarkets Help Protect Ozone Layer

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 31 2008 (IPS) - Brazil's supermarkets agreed to reduce emissions of substances that deplete the ozone layer, in cooperation with the Environment Ministry and the refrigeration industry. The agreement signed Mar. 26 will encourage the country's 74,000 supermarkets to reduce as much as possible the total 4,000 tons of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) gases they release into the atmosphere each year — equivalent to 40 percent of the national total and to 7 million tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

There are no set goals, but various actions for small, medium and large companies, in order to reach maximum involvement of the supermarkets, Ruy de Goes, the Environment Ministry's director for climate change issues, told Tierramérica.

The campaign will later be extended to restaurants, hotels and food industries.