An international accord designed to address the growing hole in the ozone layer may take on new significance in the effort to reduce the emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases. It just won’t be happening this year.

An effort to expand the Montreal Protocol to include the industrial chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) fell apart late last (more…)

The explosive growth of modern refrigerants, originally developed to replace ozone-destroying chemicals, could become a significant cause of global warming if they are not soon replaced by a new class of coolants, according to Dutch and U.S. researchers.

Reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists said that hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – now used in most air conditioning in cars and buildings – are a potent greenhouse gas whose heat-trapping effects currently equal less than one percent of all CO2 emissions worldwide. But booming economic growth in the developing world and the rapid spread of air conditioning mean that by 2050 HFCs could cause at least 25 percent of human-induced global warming, the study said.

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