Twenty years on, the success of the Montreal Protocol can help inform plans to mitigate climate change. (Editorial)

In your Special Report 'Cutting out the chemicals', you discuss the possible shift of regulatory control of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to the Montreal Protocol (Nature 457, 518

The consumption and emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are projected to increase substantially in the coming decades in response to regulation of ozone depleting gases under the Montreal Protocol. The projected increases result primarily from sustained growth in demand for refrigeration, air-conditioning (AC) and insulating foam products in developing countries assuming no new regulation of HFC consumption or emissions.

Modern refrigerants designed to protect the ozone layer are poised to become a major contributor to global warming because of their future explosive growth in the developing world, scientists report this week.