Nations, Fighting Powerful Refrigerant That Warms Planet, Reach Landmark Deal

NY Times ^ | OCT. 15, 2016 | CORAL DAVENPORT

[justlittleoleme]

Negotiators from more than 170 countries on Saturday reached a legally binding accord to counter climate change by cutting the worldwide use of a powerful planet-warming chemical used in air-conditioners and refrigerators.

-snip-

While the Paris agreement included pledges by nearly every country to cut emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the fossil fuels that power vehicles, electric plants and factories, the new Kigali deal has a single target: chemical coolants called hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, used in air-conditioners and refrigerators.

-snip-

And while the Paris pledges are broad, they are also voluntary, often vague and dependent on the political will of future world leaders. In contrast, the Kigali deal includes specific targets and timetables to replace HFCs with more planet-friendly alternatives, trade sanctions to punish scofflaws, and an agreement by rich countries to help finance the transition of poor countries to the costlier replacement products.

-snip-

The deal came about in part because President Obama, as he sought to build a legacy of tackling climate change, elevated the obscure effort to amend the Montreal Protocol to a top White House priority. The final agreement is also consistent with Mr. Obama’s efforts to push his climate change agenda while using creative ways to bypass a hostile Congress.

-snip-

The final deal will divide the world economy into three tracks. The richest countries, including the United States and those in the European Union, will freeze the production and consumption of HFCs by 2018

[grey_whiskers]

Do these cretins have ANY idea how retarded that oxymoron of a headline sounds? A "refrigerant that warms planet".

And I say that as a PhD in molecular physics.

[wastedyears]

Busybodies, taking every opportunity to regulate our lives.

[beef]

There is so much about this that bothers me. What is with this conference in Ghana in the middle of the election that we are just now hearing about? Even if HFCs are greenhouse gases, the handling of it is now tightly regulated. How much of it really gets out? What is the next red herring they are going to impose, and once that is done, what will they find wrong with it? We are supposed to blindly follow what the “experts” tell us, which we did 25 years ago, and now look. Are the experts going to pay to convert all this equipment? Or is the agenda really to eliminate refrigeration from common use? I suppose we don't need it: after all, Soylent keeps at room temperature.

[submarinerswife]

Sing it! Great rant!

I love you but I am a very happily married women.

We can have coffee and I will tell you how great I think you are.

[M Kehoe]

May I suggest that the HVAC of the White House, Capital and Supreme court buildings be eliminated? I bet 90% of all CO2 emanates from there.

Problem solved.

5.56mm

[Hot Tabasco]

The broad from the EPA and John F’n Kerry: We’re going to save the world by preventing a rise in temperature of 1/2 degree C by the end of the century........

[beef]

Just a few years ago, Obama was paying people to switch to R410a. Now, they want to ban it. SMH.

[JohnBovenmyer]

They are trying to sell this as an amendment to the already ratified (in Reagan era) Montreal Treaty, and permitted as an amendment under that and thus needing no further ratification. That can't be allowed to stand as a method of creating international law or the left will never try to ratify another treaty thru the Senate, they'll just get them endorsed by their globalist friends as amendments to whatever old agreement they chose to dredge up.

[Doc91678]

You’re correct, Not only were CFC Freon products banned, but many chlorinated chemical solvents used to degrease electronic products.
the release of Halogens into the atmosphere have a direct depleteing effect on the Ozone layer.