WASHINGTON, D.C. - Ahead of the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Singh and President Obama in Washington, D.C., the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) calls on the two leaders to publicly commit to eliminating HFCs (hydroflourocarbons) – a significant group of greenhouse gases thousands of times worse for the global climate than carbon dioxide (CO2).
The meeting follows a series of recent multilateral and bilateral announcements—such as the BASIC statement, the G20 communiqué and the bilateral agreement between China and the United States—all agreeing to use multilateral forums including the Montreal Protocol to phase-down HFCs. To date, more than 115 countries have publically voiced their support for phasing-down these chemicals under the Montreal Protocol.
The Montreal Protocol has effectively rid the world of 97 percent of ozone-depleting substances (ODS), prevented massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions in the process and therefore is the appropriate forum for action on HFCs. Despite this global effort, India has been one of the few countries that is continuing to oppose phasing down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol that could mitigate 100 billion tones of CO2 equivalents by 2050.
“Momentum for phasing-down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol is growing around the world, with more than a hundred countries coming out in support of a process that has proven effective at eliminating ozone-depleting substances,” said Mark W. Roberts, EIA’s Senior Counsel and International Policy Advisor. “Phase-down of HFCs under the Montreal Protocol is the largest, fastest and most cost-effective mitigation option currently available and India needs to jump on the bandwagon for the long-term interests of its country and the global climate.”
Roberts added, “It’s only a matter of time before the world mandates a complete phase-down of HFCs. India can either choose to watch as countries like China and the United States leapfrog to climate-friendly alternatives or empower its own industry to be at the forefront of the next generation of refrigeration, air conditioning and other sectors that use HFCs.”
EIA believes that an ideal first step for the two leaders could be to address the mounting crisis of companies currently releasing vast amounts of HFC-23 into the atmosphere. Part of the HFC family, HFC-23 is 14,800 times more damaging to the climate than CO2.
According to a recent EIA investigation, a handful of facilities including five in India could potentially emit this potent climate polluting gas unless they receive additional financing, despite having received millions of dollars of climate money and having HFC-23 destruction technology readily available. If all of the plants producing HFC-23 vent it, more than 2 billion tones of CO2 equivalents will be released by 2020 putting the world on track to exceed the two degree threshold for the worst impacts of climate change.
“Chinese and Indian companies are holding the world hostage by threatening to set off a climate bomb if they don’t receive millions of dollars for the destruction of the HFC-23 that they are producing,” said Roberts.
Additionally, chemical plants in the United States manufacturing the refrigerant HCFC-22 are also emitting much more HFC-23 than they should. The Indian and US governments need to work together to begin defusing this bomb by mandating the destruction of all HFC-23 in both Indian and US facilities.
“The global community’s efforts to mitigate climate change could go to waste if this looming crisis is not addressed,” said Roberts.
HFCs will be negotiated this October during the annual Meeting of the Parties of the Montreal Protocol in Bangkok.