Monday 17 October 2016

India enables deal to curb planet-warming coolants

ndia joined nearly 200 countries on Saturday to seal a legally binding deal that aims to reduce climate damaging greenhouses gases in products ranging from air-conditioners and refrigerators to shaving foams — a pact which will come into effect from January 2019 for developed countries such as the United States but much later for developing economies. The deal, which was approved in Kigali,
Rwanda, on the back of India's strong support, aims to substantially reduce the use of the super greenhouse gases, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), by the middle of this century. This will help the planet avoid 0.5 degree Celsius of warming and complement the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The new deal will aim to keep the average global temperature rise within 2 degrees celsius above the pre-industrial level by the end of the century. To begin with, only developed countries, including the US, Japan and west European nations, will start phasing down these refrigerants, which are thousands of times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide.
Developing countries, on the other hand, will only later on start their phase-down. Since India did not want to be clubbed with its traditional climate allies like China, South Africa and Brazil, the agreement has put the developing countries in two different categories.

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