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'Monumental' deal agreed for Global HFC Phasedown
Aircon Station
A
greement under Montreal Protocol which will see
HFC reduction starting from 2019, with developing
countries starting in 2024
The 197 Parties to the Montreal Protocol, meeting in
Kigali, Rwanda, have struck a global agreement which
willl see HFC consumption and production phased
down from 2019.
The president of the Meeting of Parties, Vincent Biruta,
described the agreement as ’the most significant
climate mitigation step the world has ever taken.’
US Secretary of State John Kerry, in Kigali to underline
the commitment of the US to the deal, told the BBC:
“It’s a monumental step forward, that addresses
the needs of individual nations but it will give us the
opportunity to reduce the warming of the planet by an
entire half a degree centigrade.”
The three tier agreement, which follows eight years of
negotiations is estimated to avoid more than 70 billion
tonnes of CO2-equivalent HFC emissions, according to
lobby group the Environmental Investigation Agency.
The Kigali amendment will cap and phase down HFC
consumption starting 2019, with most developing
countries, including China, by far the largest HFC
consumer and producer, freezing their HFC
consumption in 2024. A second schedule has been
agreed for a small number of countries including
India, Kuwait, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.