China, India, G20 Moving Closer to HFC Deal

Working with a coalition of parties called the Friends of an Ambitious HFC Amendment (including island States, the Africa Group of 54, and a progressive group of countries from Latin America plus Mexico), President Obama and Secretary Kerry are closing in on an ambitious HFC amendment to the Montreal Protocol with agreements this past week with China and India, and an endorsement today from the G20.

Phasing down these super pollutants will provide the world’s single most important down payment on the Paris Agreement, with the potential to avoid the equivalent of 100 to 200 billion tons of CO2 in the near-term and avoid up to 0.5C of warming by end of century. Success next month in Kigali is essential for keeping within the 1.5/2C goals of the Paris Agreement.

Here’s the latest:

• The White House statement on the US-China Climate Change Cooperation Outcomes issued on 3 Sept in advance of the G20 has good news on both HFCs and parallel effort to capture air conditioning efficiency gains, which can add another 100 billion tons of CO2 to the 100 billion tons of CO2-e from the HFC phase down.
• This was followed today by the G20 Leaders Communique, which stated “We look forward to successful outcomes in related multilateral fora, including the Montreal Protocol and the International Civil Organization.
• And finally, last week Secretary Kerry’s visit to India produced a further agreement with India. The Joint Statement, “resolved to continue to work together to adopt a hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) amendment in 2016 with increased financial support from donor countries to the Multilateral Fund to help developing countries with implementation, and an ambitious phasedown schedule, under the Montreal Protocol pursuant to the Dubai Pathway.”