Cuts in super greenhouse gas stalled by China, India, and Brazil

Islands and allies vow to take HFC fight to world leaders

Bangkok, 27 July 2012 – “China, India, and Brazil have again stalled formal negotiations to cut production of HFCs under the Montreal Protocol, a fast-action strategy that would provide the biggest, fastest, and cheapest climate mitigation available to the world this decade”, according to Durwood Zaelke, a climate expert and President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development.

Disappointed advocates — lead by island States and their allies, now more than 100 countries strong — will carry their fight to the Meeting of the Parties in November, which will mark the 25th anniversary of what is widely acknowledged to be the world’s most successful environmental treaty.

They also will carry their fight to the heads of government to implement the pledge made last month in Brazil at the Rio + 20 summit to phase down consumption and production of HFCs for climate protection.

“As only the Montreal Protocol addresses consumption and production of fluoridated gases like HFCs, this is the only treaty that can implement the leaders’ pledge,” said Antonio Oposa, representing the Federated States of Micronesia, the first country to target HFCs as super greenhouse gases.

“The HFC fast-action climate mitigation strategy now rests squarely with world leaders, where it belongs,” added Oposa. “The Montreal Protocol technocrats who run the day-to-day activities have gone as far as they can with their limited authority.”

On another front, efforts to cut the package of short- lived climate pollutants, including black carbon, methane, and HFCs, moved forward at the Paris meeting of Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Cut Short-Lived Climate Pollutants 23 & 24 July.

“The Coalition’s strategies are moving fast,” said Zaelke. “But we need both speed and scale to capture the full promise of this approach, which can cut the rate of global warming by more than half, save millions of lives each year, and prevent significant crop damage.”

“With climate driven droughts hammering food crops in the US and many other countries, the fast mitigation we can get from cutting HFCs, black carbon, and methane will save a lot of economic loss and human suffering”, added Zaelke.

This Press Release updates yesterday’s release, which is here.

Below is the official summary of Oposa’s statement for the Federated States of Micronesia at the Montreal Protocol working group meeting, which concluded this afternoon in Bangkok.

***

1. The representative of the Federated States of Micronesia also presented a proposed amendment to the Protocol, contained in document UNEP/OzL.Pro.WG.1/32/5. Rather than going through his proposal in detail, he drew attention, through the use of poetic allegory, to the dangers of over-consumption inherent in the current model of If all countries aimed to reach the consumption level of the so-called developed countries, he said, the world would require the resources of between five and nine earths, and the consequences would threaten the very survival of some countries, such as those located on small islands. Countries had to learn to use resources efficiently and to live within natural limits.
2. He recalled that, in effect, HFCs were born out of the Montreal Protocol, not out of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, and said that it would be irresponsible for parties to ignore that Parties were faced with a clear choice: develop a global framework for the phase-down of HFCs, or accept the consequences of regulations developed in parties such as the United States or the European Union, which were already taking action to reduce HFC use.
3. In conclusion, he drew attention to the growing number of parties that were calling for action on HFCs and encouraged all parties to adopt a change in mind-set, saying that the problem could not be solved by adopting the same mind-set that had created it in the first

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition Continues to Expand while a Small Coalition of States Again Stalls Progress to Reduce HFCs under the Montreal Protocol in the Face of Stronger and more Vocal Support

Washington DC, 26 July 2012 – This has been a rough week in the fight against climate, leaving many advocates feeling justifiably bruised. The New York Times has reported that record-breaking droughts across North America are affecting 88% of the U.S. corn crop and will likely drive up prices on staple groceries next year. NASA added to the onslaught, announcing that 97% percent of Greenland’s ice sheet surface had thawed in the month of July, more than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations. However, climate advocates gave as good as they got, as momentum to address short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) continues to build through the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).

Seven new country partners including Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, and the United Kingdom joined the CCAC at a Coalition working group meeting in Paris from 24-25 July. This brings the total number of partners up to 21. The CCAC has grown quickly in the six months since it was first announced by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with an original six members from developing and developed countries.

“Fast success cutting short-lived climate pollutants will slow the accelerating rate of global and regional warming, save millions of lives each year, and increase food security,” announced Durwood Zaelke, President of IGSD, one of the first NGOs to join the Coalition. “Pursuing the CCAC’s goals will build the sense of urgent optimism and confidence that we need to continuously strengthen ambition to tackle CO2 more aggressively, which is essential to limiting the Planet’s long-term temperature increase to an acceptable level.”

Taking fast action to reduce SLCPs including black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), is a critical climate strategy that can cut the rate of global warming in half for the next several decades, cut the rate of warming over the elevated regions of the Himalayas and Tibet by at least half, and the rate of warming in the Arctic by two-thirds over the next 30 years. Since many SLCPs are also potent air pollutants cutting them can also prevent up to 4.7 million premature deaths each year and prevent billions of dollars in crop losses.

The CCAC Secretariat is housed by UNEP in its Paris offices and is supported by initial funding from the US, Canada, Sweden, and Norway. The World Bank has announced that they have $12 billion in their portfolio that can contribute to the Coalition goals and the G8 leaders in May commissioned the Bank to prepare a report on ways to integrate reductions of SLCPs into their activities and to assess funding options for methane reduction. In September the CCAC approved five initial fast-action initiatives to accelerate action to reduce SLCPs.

At the Working Group Meeting, the CCAC announced significant progress on the five initiatives including:

• a new partnership with the Global Methane Initiative, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and the Clinton Climate Initiative to reduce methane and black carbon emissions from urban waste,
• work with UNEP’s existing sulfur reduction efforts to address black carbon emissions from diesel generators,

• cooperation with the Global Methane Initiative, the Natural Gas STAR International Program, and the Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GGFR) Partnership to combat emissions from the oil and gas industry, and
• Mexico announced a Coalition workshop in September to advance action in the region on SLCPs, including how to assist countries to switch to more efficient and mechanized ‘firing’ technologies for brick kilns

Meanwhile, at the 32nd Montreal Protocol Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) meeting, progress to phase down HFCs under the treaty was stalled by a small coalition of countries led by China, India, and Brazil. The OEWG meeting, which began on the 24th will close on the 27th, was preceded by an industry showcase, organized by the CCAC, to highlight climate-friendly alternatives to super-greenhouse gas HFCs. The conference was attended by more than 400 representatives from industry, government, and civil society and showed that a broad range of alternatives are already available to replace HFCs.

For the past three years proposals to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase down HFCs have been presented by the Federated States of Micronesia as well as the United States, Canada, and Mexico have submitted similar proposed amendments. The proposals would reduce 85% of HFC production and use, and produce climate mitigation equivalent to 100 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050.

Due to their increasing use as substitutes for HCFC refrigerants currently being phased down under the Montreal Protocol, HFCs are the fastest-growing greenhouse gases in many countries including the US. Without fast action to limit this accelerating growth, the climate warming caused by HFCs could equal nearly 20% of the warming caused by CO2 by 2050, or about the same as current annual emissions from transport, and up to 40% of carbon dioxide warming if CO2 emissions are limited in line with present international goals.

Over the past few years support has been building behind the HFC amendments. Since 2011, 107 Parties to the Treaty have signed the Bangkok Declaration calling for HFCs to be replaced with chemicals that have a low impact on global warming. In Brazil last month more than a hundred heads of State signed the Rio+20 Declaration The Future We Want which called for:

2. We recognize that the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances is resulting in a rapid increase in the use and release of high global-warming potential hydrofluorocarbons to the environment. We support a gradual phase-down in the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons.

Many parties had hoped to take the first step this week in Bangkok by creating a formal Contact Group to negotiate the terms and schedule for a phase-down of high-GWP HFCs. Despite the opposition advocates for the amendment have become stronger and more vocal, while its opponents presented arguments that are increasingly seen as efforts to allow a few out-of-touch companies to survive a few years longer at the world’s expense.

“These three countries hold the key to the amendment and the safety of the most vulnerable peoples and places for the next 30 to 60 years,” said Zaelke. “The question is whether China is ready to be a global leader and help the world’s most vulnerable countries.”

Optimism Builds for HFC Controls Under Montreal Protocol

Bangkok, 21 July 2012 – More than 400 representatives from industry, government and civil society gathered this weekend in Bangkok to highlight the wide range of existing and rapidly emerging climate-friendly alternatives to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), super greenhouse gases used in refrigeration, air conditioning, insulating foams, medical aerosol products, and other sectors. Speakers from industry, government, and public interest organizations were united on the inevitability of the HFC phase-down which is already well underway in some nations and were open to each other’s suggestions for incentives, financing and technology cooperation under the Montreal Protocol.

According to Atul Bagai, a UNEP coordinator for Asia and the Pacific, the conference was particularly helpful for developing countries that are in the process of making the transition away from ozone depleting substances and looking for cost-effective, climate-friendly alternatives. “It is reassuring for developing countries to see that a wide variety of alternatives that are both climate and ozone safe are either already available, or in the oven, for most applications.”

The conference precedes a working meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, where pressure has been building for the past three years to phase down HFCs with high global warming potential and secure significant climate mitigation – up to 146 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent reductions by 2050. The growing demand for air conditioning in a warming world and the ongoing phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons under the Montreal Protocol together have made HFCs the fastest growing climate pollutant in the U.S. and many other countries.

“The conference in Bangkok shows that industry is already replacing HFCs with climate-friendly alternatives while creating new jobs in green technology. Industry sees the writing on the wall and the triple benefits to the bottom line – affordable, sustainable, and marketable alternatives,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute of Governance & Sustainable, a leading advocacy group promoting more climate protection from the Montreal Protocol. He added, “More than 100 countries have already expressed support for reducing HFCs under the Montreal Protocol.”

The inevitability of a phase-down under the Montreal Protocol was echoed by the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, an industry coalition composed of about 100 manufacturers and businesses that produce and use HFCs and other similar chemicals, as well as the climate-friendly alternatives.

“The fluorocarbon producing and using industries have demonstrated their commitment to continuous improvement efforts when aided by clear goals and a consistent, technically-based policy environment. Efforts to address HFCs as part of the desire to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions will succeed if the lessons from 25 years of Montreal Protocol implementation are adhered to. These include science-based policies, credible technology and economic assessments, acknowledgment of the special needs and responsibilities of developing countries, and targeted and cost-effective financial assistance,” said Kevin Fay, ARAP Special Counsel.

Coca-Cola representative Bryan Jacob said, “We are proud of our work to rapidly phase out potent greenhouse gases. Natural refrigerant-based technologies have been commercially available for point-of-sale applications for some time now and will continue to penetrate the market. But strong support from political decision makers for climate and environment-friendly refrigeration can further accelerate their market uptake.”

Political momentum for an HFC amendment has been growing for the past three years. Last year,108 parties signed the Bangkok Declaration calling for low-GWP alternatives to CFCs and HCFCs. And last month at the Rio+20 summit, more than one hundred heads of State called for the gradual phase-down of HFC production and consumption in the conference declaration, The Future We Want.

“The turnout of more than 400 participants from 60 countries as well as industry, international organizations and civil society demonstrates the strong interest in understanding the options for transitioning to climate- friendlier technologies” said Cindy Newberg Chief of the Alternatives and Emissions Reduction Branch at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The two day conference entitled “Advancing Ozone and Climate Protection Technologies: Next Steps,” included technical presentations, panel discussions, and a trade show. At the conference, dozens of booths from chemical manufacturers and manufacturers of refrigerators, air conditioners, and thermal insulating foam showcased a wide range of market-ready alternatives to HFCs. Some even dispensed more tangible evidence of the inevitability of a shift away from HFCs – ice cream chilled in a freezer using a hydrocarbon refrigerant and beverages kept cold in vending machine using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant

The Bangkok conference was sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and The Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy (Alliance) with the support of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and the European Commission.

The Montreal Protocol is already responsible for the global phase-out of 97% of the consumption and production of nearly 100 ozone depleting substances and has set the stratospheric ozone layer on the path to mid-century recovery, while providing critical climate mitigation as well.

The proposal to phase down HFCs was first submitted by the Federated States of Micronesia, a collection of low lying Pacific island. A similar amendment was proposed by the US, Mexico, and Canada. Opposition from Brazil, India, and China has slowed progress.

While there is considerable optimism that formal negotiations on the HFC amendments will be launched this year at next week’s Working Group meeting or the November Meeting of the Parties, it ultimately depends upon the willingness of Brazil, India, and China to listen to their poorer island neighbors.

Washington, DC, 5 July 2012 – Emissions from forest fires and other biomass burning has a greater impact on global warming than previously understood, according to a new study.

“We used to think the lighter particles in the smoke from forest fires and crop burning had a cooling effect that might offset the warming effect of the darker black carbon particles in the smoke,” said Dr. Ramanathan of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and one of the authors of the study. “But because we’ve found brown carbon particles mixed in with the lighter organic matter, we now know that the net effect of the lighter particles is about zero, meaning there is no significant cooling to offset the warming from black carbon particles from fires.”

Carbonaceous aerosol emissions from forest fires and other biomass burning have long been known to include both dark particles that absorb heat, known as black carbon, as well as lighter-colored particles known as organic matter or organic carbon that reflect heat back into space and canceled the warming.

The new study now shows that even some of the lighter organic particles, those known as brown carbon, absorb heat that is more than the total cooling effect of the lighter particles. The absorption of these brown carbon particles essentially negates the overall cooling effect of the lighter organic material. As a result, the overall warming impact of carbonaceous aerosols is approximately equivalent to the black carbon components. The study is based on empirical data from a ground-based aerosol network integrated with field data and satellite observations.

“The record-breaking wildfires in the western United States are part of a vicious cycle amplified by global warming,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. “Climate change dries the forests and fuels the fires, and the fires fuel climate change.”

The new study, led by Dr. Chul E. Chung from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, also reported that warming from global black carbon could be as much as 85% larger than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calculated in 2007. A recent study by U.S. EPA ranked black carbon as the number two climate pollutant behind carbon dioxide but ahead of methane.

Cutting black carbon in addition to other short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as methane, tropospheric ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) can reduce the current rate of global warming by almost half and the rate of warming in the Arctic by two-thirds for the next 30 or more years while avoiding up to 4.7 million premature deaths each year from outdoor air pollution and up to 1.6 million a year from indoor pollution.

Black carbon has an even more powerful warming impact on vulnerable regions such as the Arctic and the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau in Asia. The Arctic is currently warming at twice the rate of the global average, and melting there is predicted to contribute to sea levels to rise of as much as five feet by the end of the century. Another recent report on black carbon in the Brahmaputra River Valley, southeast of the Tibetan Plateau, found that the exceptionally high concentrations of black carbon in the area contributed to the extreme regional climate change, including increased surface temperature and changing precipitation patterns.

Black carbon is targeted by the new Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, along with HFC, and methane. There are currently 19 members of the Coalition including the G8 countries, the European Commission, World Bank, and the United Nations Environment Programme, which will host the Secretariat.

“The Climate and Clean Air Coalition may be the only way to reduce climate impacts in the near term, and is a critical complement to the primary battle to reduce emissions of CO2,” said Zaelke.

Chul E. Chung, V. Ramanathan, and Damien Decremer. Observationally constrained estimates of carbonaceous aerosol radiative forcing.

Rajan K. Chakrabarty, Mark A. Garro, Eric M. Wilcox, and Ans Oosm ller, Strong radiative heating due to wintertime black carbon aerosols in the Brahmaputra River Valley. 

Bill Clinton, Mayor Bloomberg join Climate & Clean Air Coalition to help reduce short-lived methane

Rio de Janeiro, 22 June 2012 – While Rio+20 was disappointing on many fronts, the efforts to reduce short-lived climate pollutants moved forward with the final declaration, The Future We Want, supporting the phase down of factory-made super-greenhouse gases HFCs.

Further progress came when former President Bill Clinton and New York Mayor Bloomberg announced that their C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a coalition of 59 major cities around the world, was joining forces with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, launched by Secretary Hillary Clinton in February.

Their joint effort is aimed at cutting methane, another short-lived climate pollutant, from urban landfills. The amount of methane-producing garbage is projected to double over the next 15 years, making urban landfill methane a top target for the C40 cities.

Former President Bill Clinton spoke via video conference, explaining the near-term climate benefit of addressing short-lived climate pollutants:

“As we all know methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons clear the atmosphere much quicker than carbon dioxide. We need both these strategies, those that cut CO2 and those that produce the fastest results by cutting other pollutions. If we focused on the methane, the black carbon, the hydrofluorocarbons we can reduce the rate of climate change for the next thirty years by half and reduce the change in the Arctic by up to two-thirds. That’s why the Secretary of State has worked so hard on this issue and why she’s coming to Rio to push it.”

These pollutants are known as short-lived climate pollutants because they remain in the air to warm the Earth for only a few days to a decade and a half. Black carbon also is a significant air pollutant, as is the tropospheric ozone that methane contributes to. Together, they kill millions every year and seriously damage crops. Reducing black carbon, methane, and HFCs also can provide critical protection for the Arctic, Himalayas, and other vulnerable regions.

In her remarks today at the plenary session in Rio, Secretary Clinton added:

“[E]arlier this year, I was privileged to host six countries in the United Nations Environment Program as we launched the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. The goal is to reduce short-lived climate pollutants that cause more than 30 percent of current global warming, as well as millions of premature deaths and extensive crop losses. We know we have to keep working together on CO2, but we think that our Climate and Clean Air Coalition, to which many more countries are joining, and we welcome you, can take targeted action and produce results with respect to methane and black soot and HFCs.”

The Coalition is comprised of 15 countries, plus the UN Environment Program, the World Bank, and the European Commission. Secretary Clinton also noted the related Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, “which aims to help 100 million families adopt clean cookstoves and fuels by 2020.”

“The Rio declarations support for phasing down HFCs is the first universal recognition of the need to protect the climate by phasing down HFCs, super-greenhouse gases that molecule for molecule warm the climate hundreds to thousands of times more than carbon dioxide”, said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute of Governance & Sustainable, a leading advocacy group on fast action to cut the short-lived climate pollutants.

HFCs are factory-made chemicals used in refrigeration and insulating foams. Due to the growing demand for air conditioning in a warming world and to the ongoing phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons under the Montreal Protocol, HFCs are the fastest growing climate pollutant in many countries including the US. Globally HFCs are growing 10% to 15% per year, in China and India by 20% per year, and in the US by nearly 9% between 2009 and 2010.

Without fast action to limit this accelerating growth, the climate warming caused by HFCs could equal nearly 20% of the warming caused by CO2 by 2050, or about the same as current annual emissions from transport, and up to 40% of carbon dioxide warming if CO2 emissions are limited in line with present international goals.

Because HFCs remain in the atmosphere for only a short time—an average of 15 years compared to CO2, a quarter of which remains for thousands of years—reducing HFCs produces fast climate protection.

Zaelke added that “Phasing down HFCs is the biggest, fastest, cheapest piece of climate mitigation available to the world in the next few years, and it should be done immediately, and under the Montreal Protocol, the world’s most effective environmental treaty.”

Proposals to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase down HFCs have been presented by the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The proposals would reduce 85% of HFC production and use, and produce climate mitigation equivalent to 100 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050. The Montreal Protocol treaty has already phased out nearly 100 chemicals similar to HFCs and set the stratospheric ozone layer on the path to mid-century recovery, while providing critical climate mitigation as well.

More than 100 Parties to the Montreal Protocol have previously supported action on HFCs, but Brazil, China, and India had, at least until now, held up agreement under that treaty. “The global consensus in Rio shows that momentum is building for a phase-down of HFCs, which inevitably will be through the Montreal Protocol,” said Zaelke.

Zaelke further stated, “Former President Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton produced a one, two punch in Rio aimed at cutting HFCs, black carbon, and methane, as a complement to critical cuts in CO2.”

The Rio+20 Declaration is here. (See paragraph 222 on HFC phase-down.)

The methane announcement by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is here.

President Bill Clinton’s speech at C40 in Rio is here (SLCPs at 28:45; full speech starts 22:55). Secretary Clinton’s plenary speech is here (cook stoves at 6:40; SLCP Coalition at 7:48).

The Micronesian Montreal Protocol proposed amendment is here; the North American one is here.

Washington D.C., 21 May 2012. – President Obama announced Saturday at the conclusion of the G8 Summit at Camp David, Maryland that the G8 leaders have committed to cutting short-lived climate pollutants to mitigate near-term climate change, save lives, and improve crop yields, and have joined the new Climate and Clean Air Coalition for Reducing Short Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC).

The G8 leaders committed to taking comprehensive action to reduce short-lived climate pollutants as a compliment to reducing CO2, describing the new effort as a means to promote “increased mitigation ambition” to protect the climate. The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to limit the increase in global temperatures to less than 2°C over pre-industrial levels, to phase-out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies over the medium term, and to increase food security. They also expressed strong support to implement the Cancun agreements and the Durban Platform, which calls for the adoption of a new climate protocol by 2015, to come into force by 2020.

“The President’s announcement puts the short-lived climate pollutant strategy where it belongs—firmly in the hands of the leaders of the world’s largest economies,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development. “The Climate and Clean Air Coalition focuses on fast-action climate mitigation that can be done today with existing technologies by willing partners, and takes a solution-oriented approach that is showing the world that it’s possible to start meeting the climate challenge.”

Zaelke added, “The strategy to reduce short-lived climate pollutants not only reduces a major part of climate pollution, save millions of lives a year, and increase food security, but it also builds the momentum and confidence we need to successfully manage carbon dioxide from energy production, which is essential for keeping the Planet’s long term temperature increase to an acceptable level.”

Short-lived climate pollutants include black carbon soot, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons, which are factory- made gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning and the fastest growing climate pollutant in the U.S.

Reducing the short-lived climate pollutants can cut the rate of climate change in half and in the Arctic by two- thirds for the next 30 to 40 years, according to a recent assessment by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization carried out by more than 50 of the world’s leading climate scientists.

The G8 also commissioned the World Bank to prepare a report on ways to integrate reductions of short-lived climate pollutants into their activities and to assess funding options for methane reductions.

The Coalition was first announced in February by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and until today was made up of 13 members from both developing and developed countries including: the US, Canada, Mexico, Ghana, Japan, Bangladesh, Sweden, Norway, Nigeria, Colombia, the World Bank, European Commission, and UNEP.

The addition of the other G8 members including Russia, Italy, France, the UK, and Germany, brings the Coalition up to 18 members.

The President’s press video is here (at 5:10 min). The G8 Leader’s Camp David Declaration is here. The accompanying Fact Sheet: G8 Action on Climate and Energy is here.

Reducing factory-made HFCs best strategy for slowing sea level rise, other near-term impacts

Washington, DC, May 14, 2012 – With prospects for a comprehensive climate treaty now delayed until 2020, the Federated States of Micronesia is calling on the 197 Parties to the Montreal Protocol to strengthen climate protection under that treaty by phasing down the production and use of the super-greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

“Reducing HFCs is critical for slowing sea level rise in the short-term,” said Ambassador Asterio Takesy of the Federated States of Micronesia. “In Durban the world agreed to develop a new climate plan by 2015 to go into effect in 2020, but we need action now, and an agreement to phase down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol is the best strategy this year. We’re asking all at-risk islands and coastal states to join us to ensure a successful outcome this year,” he added.

HFCs are factory-made chemicals used in refrigeration and insulating foams and have a warming effect hundreds to thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide, the principle greenhouse gas. Phasing down HFCs through the Micronesian plan would be equivalent to preventing 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

“Phasing down HFCs is the biggest, fastest, cheapest piece of climate mitigation available to the world in the next few years,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development. “This courageous island is helping all vulnerable nations with what will be the world’s best near-term plan to slow climate change.”

HFCs are potent greenhouse gases but do not destroy the ozone layer, so were initially considered acceptable substitutes for hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which both warm the planet and damage the ozone layer, and are currently being phased out under the Montreal Protocol. An amendment to the Protocol presents developing country Parties the opportunity to leapfrog HFC gases altogether and transition into ozone- and climate-friendly alternatives.

“A key political point for developing countries,” said Romina Picolotti, former Minister of Environment for Argentina, “is that the Montreal Protocol fully implements the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’ by providing funding for developing countries to reduce controlled chemicals, delaying obligations for developing countries for several years after the developed countries must enact their controls, and supporting capacity building.”

As a direct result of the ongoing phase-out of HCFCs, HFCs are the fastest growing greenhouse gases in many countries including the US, where they grew nearly 9% between 2009 and 2010. Without fast action to limit their growth, the climate forcing of HFCs could equal nearly 20% of CO2 emissions by 2050, or about the same as current annual emissions from transport, and up to 45% of carbon dioxide emissions if those emissions are limited in line with present international goals.

Micronesia has a history of success at bringing about effective climate mitigation under the Montreal Protocol. In 2007, the Montreal Protocol Parties agreed to a historic Micronesian proposal to accelerate the phase-out of HCFCs. Since then, support for phasing down the substitute HFCs under the Montreal Protocol has been steadily increasing. Since 2011, over 108 nations have followed Micronesia’s lead in calling for HFCs to be replaced with chemicals that have a low impact on global warming.

Initial discussions on the new Micronesian proposal will be at the Montreal Protocol’s Open-Ended Working Group meeting July 23-27 in Bangkok, with the final decision at the Meeting of the Parties November 12-16 in Geneva.

Washington D.C., 10 May 2012. – Black carbon, the second most potent climate pollutant, has been targeted by the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP), making it the first international treaty to act on the critical link between climate change and air pollution. Once it enters into force, the black carbon amendment requires the development of national inventories and requests each party to “give priority … to emission reduction measures which also significantly reduce black carbon in order to provide benefits for health, environment and to help mitigation of near-term climate change.”

“Cutting black carbon is a triple win, slowing climate change, cleaning the air, and saving lives,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. “Regulating black carbon through CLRTAP can be a model for other regional treaties to control air pollution and climate change.”

The Executive Body of CLRTAP approved the amendment May 4th to address black carbon through the Convention’s 1999 Gothenburg Protocol, which currently sets emission ceilings for four major air pollutants, sulphur, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and ammonia. “This is a significant step towards requiring black carbon reductions in Europe and North America,” stated Zaelke. The amendment will enter into force when two-thirds of the parties to the protocol ratify it, or 17 of the 26 countries.

The US EPA recently ranked black carbon the number two climate pollutant behind carbon dioxide. Cutting black carbon in addition to other short-lived climate pollutants such as methane, ground-level ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons can reduce the current rate of global warming by almost half and the rate of warming in the Arctic by two-thirds for the next 30 or more years while avoiding up to 4.7 million premature deaths each year from outdoor air pollution and up to 1.6 million a year from indoor pollution.

The amendment follows the formation of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, which now has 13 members, including Sweden, Mexico, US, Canada, Ghana, Bangladesh, Norway, Colombia, Japan, Norway, UNEP, the European Commission, and the World Bank. More information can be found at the Coalition website.

Zaelke said, “To win the climate war, we need to cut both the short-lived climate pollutants and long- lived carbon dioxide, a substantial portion of which remains in the air for millennia. Fortunately, we’re gaining allies quickly in the second front in the fight against short-lived climate pollutants, where a victory will build the confidence we need to win the war.” The short-lived climate pollutants are responsible for 40 to 45% of all warming, with carbon dioxide responsible for the other 55-60%.

Washington D.C., 1 May 2012. – This past Friday, the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (IGSD) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) joined the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to end federal approval of the use of the super greenhouse gas, HFC134a, in household and stand-alone freezers and refrigerators. HFC134a is known as a super greenhouse gas because this man-made refrigerant has a global warming potential 1,430 times that of CO2. The petition follows one approved by the EPA filed by the same groups in 2010 to replace HFC134a in mobile vehicle air conditioners with available low-GWP alternatives. Granting of the petitions will eliminate HFCs with high global warming potential from two of the largest emissions sources.

HFCs are the fastest growing greenhouse gases in many countries including the US, where they grew nearly 9% between 2009 and 2010 compared to 3.6% for CO2. Emissions are growing so fast they threaten to push the climate system past the 2°C outer guardrail for a safe climate in a matter of decades. Without fast action to limit their growth, the climate forcing of HFCs could equal nearly 20% of CO2 emissions by 2050, or about the same as current annual emissions from transport, and up to 45% of CO2 emissions if CO2 emissions are limited to 450 ppm.

The latest petition requests the EPA delist HFC134a as an acceptable refrigerant, which it approved more than 20 years ago under its Significant New Alternatives Program (SNAP), a program designed to identify safe alternatives for ozone depleting substances phased out under the Montreal Protocol. The EPA has already approved other alternatives with at least 250 times less impact on the climate than HFC134a while achieving the same or better energy efficiency.

“Cutting HFCs presents the biggest, fastest piece of climate mitigation available to the world in the next few years,” stated Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. “Approximately 20% of HFC emissions globally come from the refrigeration sector. Eliminating emissions from new residential refrigerators in the US will bring us a big step closer to eliminating all high GWP HFCs around the globe.”

Also included in the petition is a request that the EPA end the use of HFC134a in other sectors by restricting sale of the gas to EPA-certified technicians, which could reduce emission from vehicle servicing by 40-45%, and ending its use in non-essential products like Dust-Off sprays and string party foam like Silly StringÒ.

The petition can be found here.

Five initiatives launched targeting short-lived climate pollutants black carbon, methane, and HFCs

Stockholm, 24 April 2012. The second front in the war against climate change just got major reinforcements in the effort to reduce black carbon (soot), methane, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), collectively known as short-lived climate pollutants because they remain in the air to warm the Earth for only a few days to a decade and a half. Reducing them can cut the rate of global warming by half or more for the next 30 to 40 years, providing critical protection for the Arctic, Himalayas, and other vulnerable regions, while saving millions of lives a year and reducing crop damage, providing a substantial boost for development.

The European Union, Norway, Japan, Nigeria, Colombia, and the World Bank announced today that they have joined the Coalition for Climate and Clean Air to Reduce Short-lived Climate Pollutants, launched in February by three developing (Mexico, Ghana, and Bangladesh) and three developed countries (Sweden, US, and Canada), along with the United Nations Environment Programme. The Coalition concluded its inaugural Ministerial meeting today in Stockholm. Many other countries are poised to join shortly.

Initial funding for the Coalition has been provided by the US and Canada. Sweden and Norway announced today that they would contribute as well. The World Bank announced they have $12 billion in their portfolio that can contribute to the Coalition goals, and noted the need for urgent action to reduce the short-lived climate pollutants.

Five initiatives aimed at accelerating and scaling-up action against the short-lived pollutants were approved by the Ministers meeting in Stockholm yesterday and today. (They are listed in the appendix.)

Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development, who attended the inaugural meeting in Stockholm, stated, “The Coalition may be the single most important development for climate protection in the past ten years. It focuses on fast-action climate mitigation that can be done today with existing technologies by willing partners. It has the potential not only to reduce a major part of climate pollution, but to build the momentum and confidence we need to successfully manage carbon dioxide from energy production, which is essential for keeping the Planet’s long term temperature increase to an acceptable level.”

Many scientists calculate that global temperature cannot increase more than 2°C above pre- Industrial levels without risking major and perhaps catastrophic climate impacts, including devastating sea-level rise and punishing storm surges, as well as droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events. Major cuts in carbon dioxide are essential to stay below 2°C in the longer term, along with cuts to the short-lived climate pollutants.

Zaelke said, “To win the climate war, we need to cut both the short-lived climate pollutants and long-lived carbon dioxide, the most damaging gas. Fortunately, we’re gaining allies quickly in the second front of the fight against black carbon, methane, and HFCs. A victory on this front will build the confidence we need to win the war.” The short-lived climate pollutants are responsible for 40 to 45% of all warming, with carbon dioxide, a substantial portion of which remains in the air for millennia, responsible for the other 55-60%.

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Appendix

[This is excerpted from UNEP’s press release today on the Coalition meeting]

Assessment and Go-Ahead for Scaled-up Initiatives

The meeting assessed around a dozen initiatives proposed by developed and developing countries for fast and federated action on short lived climate pollutants including many happening already at the national level.

Delegates took forward five to be approved for rapid implementation by ministers on the final day. Those given the green light include:

• Fast action on diesel emissions including from heavy duty vehicles and engines

Studies show that reductions are possible by addressing emissions from the freight transportation supply chain, through city action plans, and adoption of a range of measures for reducing sulphur in fuels and vehicle emissions

• Upgrading old inefficient brick kilns which are a significant source of black carbon emissions

Mexico has for example [20,000] small and medium-sized brick kilns and the design of many of the [6,000] in Bangladesh hark back to the 1900s.

• Accelerating the reduction of methane emissions from landfills

World-wide the waste management sector contributes about 11% of global methane emissions, and the coalition will work with cities to reduce methane emissions from landfills by improving strategic municipal solid waste planning and providing technical assistance.

• Speeding up cuts in methane and other emissions from the oil and gas industry

Natural gas venting and leakage from the oil and gas industry accounts for over one fifth of global man-made emissions of methane: Flaring at oil installations generate both methane and black carbon emissions. An estimated one third of leaks and venting can be cut using existing technologies at low cost.

• Accelerating alternatives to HFCs

HFCs are being rapidly introduced as replacements to chemicals that can damage the ozone layer—the Earth’s protective shield that filters out hazardous ultra violet light.

The Coalition aims to fast track more environmentally-friendly and cost effective alternatives and technologies to avoid HFC growth.

• Additional initiatives – including a proposal by Ghana on agricultural/forest open burning and a proposal by Bangladesh on cookstoves – would be further developed over the coming

Trust Fund Established

To support the Coalition’s efforts, a new Trust Fund managed by a UNEP-hosted secretariat was agreed today.

Initial financing pledges for the Coalition now amount to some $16.7 million with significantly more funds expected over the coming 12 months.

Science Advisory Panel

Sound science has underpinned the formation of the Coalition and will guide its work into the future. Ministers today asked three luminaries involved in short lived climate pollutant work to advise them on the formation of a dedicated world-class Science Advisory Panel to provide scientific advice to the Coalition.

The advice will be provided by Drew Shindell of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Mario Molina, the distinguished Mexican chemist and 1995 Nobel Prize co-winner and Veerabhadran Ramanathan, chair of the UNEP Atmospheric Brown Cloud project based at the University of California San Diego,

Coalition Web Site Goes Live

The Coalition today also unveiled a dedicated web site to support dissemination of information about the initiative’s role and partners http://www.unep.org/ccac/

Notes to Editors

Quotes from Other Newly Joining Partners Colombia

Frank Pearl, the Colombian Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, said:” “Colombia has recognized for some time the urgency of acting on these short lived climate pollutants including the impacts of black carbon on public health and the accelerated melting of glaciers the high mountain areas of Latin America”.

“Colombia is among several countries in our region to act on soot particles from vehicles and other contaminating sources as well as emissions that are triggering tropospheric or ground level ozone—another short lived climate pollutants,” he said.

“In joining the Coalition we see not only potential national and global benefits but Colombia plans to act as a regional hub, reaching out to other countries in Latin America in order to generate regional opportunities for sustainable development,” said Mr Pearl.

Nigeria

Mrs Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia , Nigerian Minister of the Environment said: “Nigeria is delighted to be a new member of the Coalition. It is estimated that 95,000 women in my country die each year prematurely because of black carbon emissions from source such as inefficient cook stoves–this is a conservative estimate. Meanwhile there are enormous opportunities for reducing methane emissions from sources such as the oil and gas industry and landfills that can benefit Nigeria and its people and the wider regional and global ambitions to combat climate change in a cost effective and economic way”.

“We look to encourage more countries within Africa and beyond to join this inspiring initiative so that fast action can be federated everywhere in order to save lives, improve food security and tackle climate change which challenges the future of the poor and the vulnerable exponentially,” she added.

Norway

Bård Vegar Solhjell, the Norwegian Minister of the Environment, said: “Norway is delighted to join the Coalition. It unites our country’s interest in achieving national sustainability with international responsibilities in the areas of health, food security, climate and development”.

“There are many international initiatives addressing these short term pollutants, and Norway is participating in several of them. In this Coalition the United Nations Environment Program participates, both as partner and as Secretariat for the Coalition. This is a very wise decision, which provides credibility and leverage and increases the value of the Coalition´s work”, he added.

“Finally it echoes to Norway’s interest in the Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication—a key issue for the upcoming Rio+20 Summit in June— in which well-targeted policy and financial interventions can catalyze benefits across multiple fronts,” said Mr Solhjell.

World Bank

“From multi-billion dollar investments in clean energy each year to climate smart solutions for agriculture and cities, the Bank already targets short-term environmental pollutants in developing countries through our lending, data and evidence based knowledge sharing and technical assistance. But, we can achieve even more by working as a coalition,” said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development.

“This is the most important decade for action on climate change”, Kyte said. “But with a global treaty that will speed the curbing of carbon dioxide many years off, the climate and clean air coalition puts a practical new deal on the table – one that helps slow global warming while reducing the soot and smog that is damaging food crops and health worldwide, undermining growth and development.”

Aims of the Coalition

• To catalyze the speed and the scale of action on short lived climate pollutants
• Enhance existing and develop new national actions to address mitigation gaps
• Encourage existing and new regional actions
• Reinforce and track existing efforts to reduce these pollutants, promoting opportunities for greater international coordination and developing and improving inventories
• Identify barriers to action and seeking to surmount them
• Promote best practices or available technologies and showcase successful efforts to address short lived climate forcers
• Improve understanding of and review scientific progress on short lived climate pollutants, their impacts and benefits of mitigation and dissemination of knowledge; and
• Mobilize targeted support for those developing countries that require resources to develop their capacity and to implement actions consistent with national strategies to support sustainable development

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Term Climate Pollutants was launched in Washington DC on 17 February 2012.

http://www.unep.org/dewa/Portals/67/pdf/HFC_report.pdf

http://www.unep.org/dewa/Portals/67/pdf/Black_Carbon.pdf

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6065/183

For More Information Please Contact Nick Nuttall, Acting Director UNEP Division of Communications and Public Information/UNEP Spokesperson, on Tel: +254 733 632755, E- mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org