The ban on Hydrofluorocarbon
Recently, 150 countries gathered in Kigali, capital of Rwanda to ratify the ban on Hydrofluorocarbon(HFC) gases,which scientists found to be causing the destruction of ozone that protects people and animals from the dangerous impacts of ultraviolet radiation. It was the concern over a growing hole in the ozone layer above the Antarctica that forced the international community to adopt the Montreal Protocol in 1987 banning the manufacture and use of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCS), which was blamed for increasing green house gases.
Paradoxically, HFC was brought in as replacement to CFCs. However, recent scientific evidence shows that even when HFC are several times better at retaining heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2), they have been exacerbating global warming due to increasing demand for air conditioning. With air conditioning becoming more commonplace, HFC use has risen sharply over the past decade. Incidentally, HFCs are used in aerosols, foam blowing, motor vehicle air conditioning, retail food refrigeration and vending machines.
According to climatologists, the Kigali protocol could reduce projected emissions by as much as 88 percent over the course of the 21st century. President Barack Obama has praised the deal on calling it “an ambitious and far reaching solution” to a “rapidly growing threat to the health of our planet”. Environmentalists say the agreement is “equal to stopping the entire world’s fossil-fuel CO2emissions for more than two years,”
Before now, HFCs accounted for a small but growing slice of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions, even as scientists project that it could contribute up to 0.5 °C of warming by the end of the century if left unchecked. Unfortunately, tackling global warming isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ operation. There are a number of greenhouse gases, along with HFCs and carbon dioxide, and they’re notoriously complex. With the rapid industrialisation of the warmer parts of the world (India, China, Brazil, etc.) there has been explosion of demand for air conditioning and other cooling technologies. According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, about 1.6 billion new air-conditioning units will be switched on worldwide by 2050.
Moreover, HFC leakage from air conditioners alone will raise the global average temperature by half a degree Celsius by mid-century. However, when you read the fine print of the Kigali Amendment, it turns out that the United States (the second-biggest HFC polluter), the European Union, and some other rich countries will have to achieve their first 10 per cent cut in HFC production by 2019. Sadly, the schedule for further cuts is not clearly defined, apart from the fact that they must be down by 85 per cent by 2036. That is why small island states and many African countries are not only worried but are pushing for quick action, since they face the biggest threat from climate change.
Experts say that as narrow as the deal is, it is more likely to yield climate-shielding actions by industry and governments. In addition, the accord will stave off an increase of atmospheric temperatures of nearly one degree Fahrenheit. That would be a major step toward averting an atmospheric temperature increase of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the point at which many experts think the world will be locked into a future of rising sea levels, severe droughts and flooding, widespread food and water shortages, and more powerful hurricanes. This is why the Kigali accord should be embraced by all and sundry.
