In climate debates, carbon dioxide attracts a lot of action, but there are other greenhouse gases (GHGs) whose emissions cause far more damage to the atmosphere. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), used in home refrigerators and air conditioners, are among those super-pollutants that top the list. The Biden administration has finalized a program that will reduce its usage by 85 percent over 15 years.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is executing the initiative, the first climate rule of this administration, which is implementing a rule passed by Congress last year with rare bipartisan support. (https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/23/bidens-epa-orders-slash-in-climate-warming-hydrofluorocarbons-hfcs.html) It will allocate allowances and limits for companies to make or import HFC over the next two years. Over the years, several products will be weaned away from the HFCs. Fire extinguishers, aerosol canisters, building insulation and supermarket freezers that leak the gases will have to be manufactured differently. By the mid-century, all this will lead to a cut in GHG emissions as much as three years of pollution from America’s power sector. (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/climate/hydrofluorocarbons-hfc-climate-change.html)

Officials describe the move as a win-win situation: It will also create new jobs to manufacture refrigerators, ACs and other products in new ways.

HFCs, when emitted, can add to global warming “hundreds to thousands of times” more than carbon dioxide. Once they were considered heroes in the climate story, when they emerged as a sensible replacement for the chemicals that were eroding the ozone layer. Then they revealed their fangs, and scientists realized the HFCs’ heat-trappings properties only added to global warming. (https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/slcps/hydrofluorocarbons-hfcs) In 1916, the world signed the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to gradually reduce the consumption and production of HFCs. (https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-protocol/amendments/kigali-amendment-2016-amendment-montreal-protocol-agreed) Trump, however, never submitted the Kigali treaty for Senate ratification. Biden promised to do so, but is yet to; while China and India have ratified it. (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1746946)

For Biden, the new rule will be a saving grace at the COP26 – the UN climate meet – in Glasgow next month, because the major part of his climate agenda stands derailed. A couple of bills aimed at expanding the adoption of solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles are stuck due to internal differences among the Democrats. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/09/23/biden-climate-rule-hydrofluorocarbons/)