“Monumental” Deal to arrest the syndrome that makes humanity “Monument”

15 Oct 2016

 

“Monumental” Deal to phase out Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are making global warming worse. More than 150 countries have reached at a consensus to cut short the use of HFC that are widely used in fridges, air conditioning and aerosol sprays. HFCs posed an immediate threat to a safe climate due to their increasing use and high global warming potential, thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide.

“Monumental” meeting in Rwanda accepted a complex amendment to the Montreal Protocol that will see richer countries cut back their HFC use from 2019.

The new “Monumental” agreement will see three separate pathways for different countries.

1. Richer economies like the European Union, the US and others will start to limit their use of HFCs within a few years and make a cut of at least 10% from 2019.
2. Some developing countries like China, nations in Latin America and island states will freeze their use of HFCs from 2024.
3. Other developing countries, specifically India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the Gulf states will not freeze their use until 2028.

The “Monumental” agreement if implemented in full it will make a big difference to global warming. Experts estimate it will remove the equivalent of about 70 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050.