Nearly 200 nations have reached a deal, announced Saturday morning after all-night negotiations, to limit the use of greenhouse gases far more powerful than carbon dioxide in a major effort to fight climate change. The talks on hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, were called the first test of global will since the historic Paris Agreement to cut carbon emissions was reached last year, the AP reports. HFCs are described as the world's fastest-growing climate pollutant and are used in air conditioners and refrigerators. Experts say cutting them is the fastest way to reduce global warming. The deal is expected to reduce warming by a half-degree Celsius by the end of this century.
The new agreement, unlike the broader Paris one, is legally binding. It caps and reduces the use of HFCs in a gradual process beginning by 2019 with action by developed countries including the United States, the world's second-worst polluter. More than 100 developing countries, including China, the world's top carbon emitter, will start taking action by 2024, when HFC consumption levels should peak. India, Pakistan, and some Gulf states pushed for and secured a 2028 start. This is the "largest temperature reduction ever achieved by a single agreement," says Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. (More hydrofluorocarbons stories.)
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