Energy and Environment

Would a phaseout of hydrofluorocarbons avoid half a degree of global warming?

By Washington Examiner
Published May 12, 2021 4:00am ET
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Would a phaseout of hydrofluorocarbons avoid half a degree of global warming?
This photo taken May 5, 2014 shows the stacks of the Homer City Generating Station in Homer City, Pa. Three years ago, the operators of one of the nation’s dirtiest coal-fired power plants warned of “immediate and devastating” consequences from the Obama administration’s push to clean up pollution from coal. Faced with cutting sulfur dioxide pollution blowing into downwind states by 80 percent in less than a year, lawyers for EME Homer City Generation L.P. sued the Environmental Protection Agency to block the rule, saying it would cause a painful spike in electricity bills and grave harm to power producers like itself. | Keith Srakocic/AP

In a recent “Daily on Energy” report for the Washington Examiner, Josh Siegel and Abby Smith reported: “This morning, the EPA unveiled a proposal to begin limiting potent greenhouse gas coolants known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. It’s a significant step to curb climate change, as phasing down HFCs could help avoid roughly 0.5 degrees Celsius of warming.”

The claim that a phaseout of HFCs would reduce future warming by 0.5 C is the conventional wisdom, and like many such assertions accepted among Beltway types, it is based upon dubious foundations and assumptions.

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Biden Administration Carbon Climate Change Environmental Protection Agency Paris Agreement