20 July 2016
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are the fastest-growing greenhouse gases. Many are 100s to 1000s of times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2) at warming the atmosphere. This projected increase in HFC emissions would offset many of the climate benefits achieved by phasing out ozone-depleting substances (ODS) under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. An HFC phase-down is expected to avoid up to 0.5 oC of global warming by 2100. The 197 parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer met in Vienna, Austria, from 15 to 23 July 2016 to continue working to an amendment to the Protocol in 2016 to phase-down the production and consumption of global-warming-inducing hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), by first resolving challenges identified under the "Dubai Pathway on HFCs" adopted last year.
IIASA jointly with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) undertook India’s first analysis for understanding the potential growth in India’s HFC emissions across sectors if these adopt high GWP HFCs as alternatives to HCFCs. As a second phase of this study, a detailed cost analysis was undertaken for understanding the economy wide cost of transition across sectors under different Amendment proposals. This study relies on the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model and was presented by IIASA researcher, Pallav Purohit together with Dr Vaibhav Chaturvedi from CEEW.
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