US ratifies Kigali deal to limit hydrofluorocarbons use

President Joe Biden has signed an international agreement that compels the United States and other countries to limit the use of hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning that are far more powerful than carbon dioxide.

White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said on Thursday the formal ratification of the Kigali agreement — with Biden's signature — "means the US is all-in on reducing hydrofluorocarbons" and advancing global efforts to combat the climate crisis.

The agreement should lead to tens of thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars in exports as clean technologies are developed to replace hydrofluorocarbons, also known as HFCs, around the world, Zaidi said.

"It's a real boost for investments in these cleaner technologies'' — many of which have been developed in the US — "that also helps us tackle the climate crisis,'' he said in an interview.

Ratification of the amendment was supported by an unusual coalition that included major environmental and business groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce.

"This is one of those truly rare things you get in the policy world where it is a win-win" for the environment and business, Chris Jahn, President and CEO of the American Chemistry Council, an industry group, said after the Senate vote.

Ratification of the amendment should allow US businesses to meet the growing demand for refrigerators and air conditioning units in Asia, South America and Europe, Jahn and other business leaders said.

The Senate ratified the so-called Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution last month in a rare bipartisan vote.

The measure requires participating nations to phase down the production and use of HFCs by 85 percent over the next 14 years, as part of a global phaseout intended to slow the climate crisis.

More than 130 nations, including China, India and Russia, have formally ratified the agreement, which scientists say could help the world avoid a half-degree Celsius of global heating.

Republicans on China

HFCs are considered a major driver of global heating. Nearly 200 nations reached a deal in 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda, to limit HFCs and find substitutes more friendly to the atmosphere. 

Biden pledged to embrace the Kigali deal during the 2020 presidential campaign and submitted the agreement to the Senate last year.

In a related action, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued a rule limiting US production and use of HFCs in line with the Kigali agreement.

The EPA rule followed a 2020 law passed by Congress authorising a 15-year phaseout of HFCs in the US.

Some Republican senators opposed the treaty, saying it would give China preferential treatment by designating it as a developing country.

The Senate approved a largely symbolic amendment by GOP Sens.

Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Mike Lee of Utah declared that China is not a developing country and should not be treated as such by the United Nations or other intergovernmental organisations.