Climatewire By Jean Chemnick | 09/23/2021
The Biden administration will take aim today at a class of climate superpollutants that can be thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide.
These gases, known as hydrofluorocarbons, are often found in appliances such as refrigerators or air conditioners, and scientists for years have warned about their potential to accelerate global warming.
To blunt the impact of hydrofluorocarbons, the Biden administration is expected to announce a sweeping, multiagency crackdown on the superpollutants.
The centerpiece of the strategy is EPA’s final rule phasing down hydrofluorocarbons by 85 percent over the next decade and a half, as required by legislation last year. The policy would allow the United States to take the domestic steps it needs to join China, the European Union and other major countries in ratifying the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol for ozone.
The initiative also provides an early glimpse into the Biden administration’s long-promised “whole-of-government approach” to fighting climate change, assigning departments from Homeland Security to Defense new roles in preventing the illegal import of HFCs or finding new uses for their more climate-friendly alternatives.
But in a call last night with reporters, White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy, emphasized the economic impact of the plan, rather than its environmental effect. It’s an approach that recalls her time as EPA administrator under President Obama, in which she often touted EPA actions as job-creators.
“The U.S. is a leader in innovation and the manufacture of the HFC alternatives, so making this shift is good for our economy,” she said. “And the action we’re announcing today will ensure that our businesses remain competitive and keep creating good-paying union jobs as the global market gets bigger and bigger for HFC alternatives.”
“It’s really, frankly folks, a very big deal,” she said.
More:
https://www.eenews.net/articles/biden-tells-agencies-to-confront-climate-superpollutant/Time to stock up on R-134A before its outlawed.
