WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a landmark rule making today, which will pave the way for the elimination of a tier of the most climate-damaging greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the United States. This historic climate proposal will prevent over 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions in 2020 through banning the use of certain hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are super GHGs used in commercial refrigeration, mobile air-conditioning, aerosols, and foams.
This ruling supports President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, which called on the EPA to use its authority through the Significant New Alternatives Policy Program to prohibit certain uses of the most harmful HFCs.
“The Environmental Investigation Agency applauds the EPA and the White House for taking concrete action to tackle climate change and fulfilling the steps laid out in the President’s Climate Action Plan,” said Mark W. Roberts, International Policy Advisor at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). “Banning the use of dangerous super greenhouse gases like HFCs will help reduce U.S. emissions and send a strong signal to the international community that HFCs can be phased down now.”
The EPA ruling follows the announcement yesterday from the United States and China reaffirming their commitment to reduce emissions of HFCs bilaterally, and the recent EPA proposed rule approving climate-friendly HFC-free chemicals for use in the U.S. market. Both actions fulfill additional key pieces of Obama’s Climate Action Plan.
“The issuing of the two new rulemakings sends a clear message that the U.S. is serious about addressing climate change domestically, as well as internationally." said Danielle Gagne, HFC & Climate Policy Analyst at EIA. “These rules come at a pivotal time, as the Parties of the Montreal Protocol meet this week to once again discuss an international phase down of HFCs.”
EIA hopes this significant announcement will reinvigorate the discussions on how countries can work internationally to eliminate these climate-destroying gases through the Montreal Protocol.
Editor’s Notes
EIA is an international campaigning organization founded in 1989, with offices in Washington, D.C. and London, UK. EIA works worldwide—protecting the global climate, forests, and threatened species with intelligence—for the benefit of people and wildlife. EIA's climate program focuses on phasing out, and ending illegal trade in, industrial gases that act as global warmers and deplete the Earth’s protective ozone layer.
HFCs are man-made fluorinated gases (F-gases) developed and commercialized to replace CFCs, HCFCs, and other chemicals that deplete the ozone layer. HFCs are powerful GHGs with global warming potentials hundreds and thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and are primarily used in refrigeration, air conditioning, foam blowing, aerosols, fire protection, and solvents.
HFCs represent approximately one percent of global GHG emissions, and 1.5 percent of U.S. emissions. Although their contribution to climate change is relatively small, it is expected to soar in the coming decades, with emissions of HFCs increasing at a rate of 10-15 percent per year globally. Unless action is taken, global HFC emissions could reach 5.5–8.8 billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year in 2050, equivalent to 9-19 percent of projected global CO2 emissions under a business-as-usual scenario. In the United States, emissions of HFCs are expected to triple by 2030.
Contact:
Maggie Dewane, Press Officer, (202) 483-6621, mdewane@eia-global.org