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The White House has formally asked the US Senate for advice
and consent to ratify the global treaty that would gradually phase
down the production and use of a class of global warming chemicals
known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are far more potent than
CO2, methane or other GHGs.
Once the Senate has given its consent, President Joe Biden will
ratify the treaty that will enable the US to join 129 other countries that
already have adopted the 2016 Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer that took
effect in 2019 This year alone saw 17 countries, including China
and India, sign on to the global pact. Turkey was the 129th country
to join the treaty on 10 November during the COP26 meeting.
HFCs are a synthetic class of chemicals that were initially
promoted and used as alternatives to ozone-depleting substances to
meet the Montreal Protocol of 1987. Since then, scientists have
noted that these chemicals have very high global warming potential,
at least 1,000 times more potent than CO2, and pushed for their
replacement as well.
The Montreal Protocol, and the subsequent Kigali amendment that
took effect in January 2019, are responsible for avoiding about 1.7
degrees Celsius of warming due to mandatory reductions of
super-polluting chemicals—chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), HCFCs,
and now HFCs—used primarily as refrigerants in cooling
equipment.
In the message to the Senate, Biden reassured the lawmakers that
"the United States has sufficient domestic authority to implement
obligations under the Kigali Amendment, including through the American Innovation and
Manufacturing Act of 2020 (the AIM Act) and the Clean Air
Act."
He reminded the senators that they ratified the underlying
Montreal Protocol as well and that the AIM Act had the support of
the business community, including the US Chamber of Commerce and
the National Association of Manufacturing.
A week after taking office, Biden had signaled his intention to
submit the treaty for the Senate's advice and consent in his 27 January executive order on
tackling the climate crisis at home and abroad. But he waited
until after the US Environmental Protection (EPA) had finalized
a rule that would essentially implement what the treaty seeks
through an allowance allocation and trading program.
Although released end September, the EPA
rule took effect 5 October. At the COP26
meeting EPA Administrator Michael Regan chaired a discussion on
HFCs, reiterating the Biden
administration's intent to prevent illegal imports and trading of
HFCs.
Starting with a 10% reduction in 2022, the phasing down under
this rule will occur in a gradual fashion through an allowance
allocation and trading program that Congress in late 2020 mandated
the EPA implement under the AIM Act.
Regan said the EPA rule will help the US meet its climate goal
of reducing half its GHGs by 2030, though the contribution of HFCs
to total US GHGs is small in comparison to CO2 releases.
US Senator Thomas Carper, Democrat-Delaware, who chairs the
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said "it is time for
the US to join the rest of the international community with this
commitment to phase down super-polluting HFCs. I urge my colleagues
to ratify without delay."
Posted 17 November 2021 by Amena Saiyid, Senior Climate and Energy Research Analyst
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