Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to reach a milestone Thursday in finalizing a key part of President Obama’s climate change agenda on phasing out refrigerants used in air conditioners that are blamed for raising the Earth’s temperature.
The White House said Kerry will meet with nearly 100 nations on Thursday to hash out an amendment to the Montreal Protocol, first created to fix the ozone layer in the 1980s, to phase out refrigerants to combat global warming.
The deal would reduce the Earth’s temperature by 0.5 degrees, Brian Deese, the president’s climate change adviser, told reporters on a call Wednesday. Observers said the deal on Thursday is the prelude to a big push by the administration to finalize the deal on limiting hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, during an international gathering in Kigali, Rwanda, next month.
Steve Yurek, president and CEO of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, said reaching a deal on the Montreal Protocol will be “one of the most significant steps” toward reaching the goals of last year’s Paris climate change agreement. Yurek, whose groups represent the industry that will have to comply with a phase-out of the refrigerants, has been a key player in the deliberations leading up to the meeting Thursday.
“Today, we call upon world leaders to adopt in October an ambitious amendment to the Montreal Protocol, including an early first reduction step for [developed] countries and a freeze date for [developing] countries that is as early as practicable,” Yurek said.
“We declare our intent to work to reduce the use and emissions of high-global-warming-potential HFCs and transition over time to more sustainable alternatives in a manner that maintains or increases energy efficiency‎,” Yurek added.
