Montreal Protocol amendment would ban HFCs
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.0210147
Nature : At the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol this week, participants are discussing an amendment that would ban hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), greenhouse gases that also attack the ozone layer. The most common HFC, the refrigerant HFC-134a, has 1430 times as much warming potential as carbon dioxide over a span of 100 years. Stopping the production of HFCs and gradually cutting back on their use would help not only to protect the ozone layer but also to achieve the goal of the Paris climate treaty to ameliorate global warming. Their ban would prevent the equivalent of 100 billion to 200 billion tons of CO2 being released into the atmosphere by 2050 and could avert about half a degree Celsius of warming by the end of the century.