7th Nov WIRED 39

Aircon Station

'Monumental' deal agreed for Global HFC Phasedown

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.