These negative effects of UV-B on aquatic and marine organisms will reduce the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide, exacerbating global warming. Increased UV-B changes the chemical composition of plant tissue, enhances photodegradation, and changes the community makeup of microbial decomposers and nitrogen fixers. Studies of the degradation of HCFCs and HFCs currently in the air have not found any significant effects on humans or the environment. Finally, UV-B negatively affects the physical and mechanical properties of polymers as well as other structural and utilitarian materials, and conventional photostabilizers are not likely to be able to mitigate those effects. Factors were sought to explain the different economic interests EU countries have in cutting CO 2 emissions.
Interests result from different perceptions of the cost of emission cuts among stakeholders.
Sector-based comparisons indicate that the conflicts resulting from an announcement of emission cuts are likely to be moderate in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom while the possibility for conflicts is significantly higher in France, Italy, and Spain. To a large extent, the conflicts are determined by whether or not emissions can be reduced in the electricity sector. The presense of these differences may explain why the EU has not succeeded in implementing common measures across the member countries. To prepare for a common policy, a coordination of the electricity market should be given priority. This analysis was undertaken at the request of the Committee on Science of the U.S. House of Representatives.