The New Nation - Internet Edition

Andrew Eder

The gases that help cool our homes, cars and food could become a major contributor to global warming if their use is left unchecked.

That's the conclusion of a new study co-authored by a scientist from DuPont Co., a pioneer in the creation of refrigerants and a producer of gases known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs.

HFCs were designed as replacements for an earlier class of refrigerants that depleted the Earth's ozone layer, which helps absorb potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation.

But the compounds are powerful greenhouse gases that trap heat and contribute to climate change . HFCs are hundreds to thousands of times more potent warming agents than carbon dioxide, the largest contributor to global warming.

The study, led by a Dutch scientist and co-written by researchers from two federal agencies, found that the growth of HFCs in developing countries-from products like refrigerators, air conditioners and insulating foams-could erase much of the potential progress from limiting carbon emissions .

At current trends, HFC emissions could be equivalent to as much as 45 percent of carbon emissions by 2050, and contribute to global warming at a rate of six to 13 years worth of carbon emissions, the study found.

"For the first time, it really illuminates how significant these compounds can be," said Mack McFarland, a researcher who has led DuPont's work on the issues of ozone depletion and climate change during his 26 years with the company.

The same group of researchers collaborated on a paper two years ago that detailed the benefits to climate protection from the Montreal Protocol, a landmark 1987 international agreement that established a mechanism to reduce and phase out CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances.

The new paper on HFC emissions is expected to be a topic of discussion this week in Geneva, where parties to the Montreal Protocol will gather for an Open-Ended Working Group meeting.

The researchers' findings should help convince policymakers of the need not only to limit carbon dioxide emissions, but to address non-carbon contributors to global warming, said Durwood Zaelke, founder and president of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.

"This paper shows beyond any doubt how big this problem will be and how it will disrupt the efforts on the CO2 [carbon dioxide] side," Zaelke said by phone from Geneva.

Precisely how to limit HFC emissions is a source of contention.

The gases were introduced for cooling applications in the 1990s as a replacement for CFCs, and their use is projected to increase sharply as demand rises in developing countries and other CFC replacements, HCFCs, are phased out in coming years.

DuPont, which is working with Honeywell to develop a more climate-friendly refrigerant, wants HFCs to be dealt with separately from other greenhouse gases. The company successfully lobbied lawmakers to include HFCs in their own section of a climate bill that recently passed the House of Representatives.

That bill would establish a cap-and-trade mechanism under which companies could buy and sell allowances to emit carbon dioxide.

If HFCs were included in such a scheme, DuPont and others argue that the high global warming potential of HFCs would distort their price once a price tag is attached to carbon dioxide, which is a byproduct of other processes.

"These gases [HFCs] are very different," McFarland said. "They are primarily produced for societal needs."

That same question-whether to deal with HFCs together with or separate from carbon-is playing out on a global level.

The Federated States of Micronesia and Mauritius, two small island nations whose existence is threatened by climate change and rising sea levels, have proposed an amendment to the Montreal Protocol to let that treaty handle the reduction of HFCs.

The amendment will be debated at this week's working group meeting in Geneva. Zaelke said the Montreal Protocol was an "extraordinary" treaty that has successfully reduced 96 chemicals, making it the best way to deal with HFCs.

"It's one thing to spot a big emissions source like this, but it's another thing to find the governance mechanism to take it out quickly," Zaelke said. "Montreal is there with 21 years of experience and expertise."

But European countries have signaled that they want HFCs to be dealt with under an international climate treaty, the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which currently governs carbon dioxide, HFCs and other greenhouse gases. The Obama administration has been noncommittal, saying it needs more time to study the issue.

Kert Davies, a research director for Greenpeace, said the environmental group believes a Kyoto Protocol successor must play a role in regulating HFCs.

Davies said companies like Nestle and Unilever have moved away from using fluorinated gases as refrigerants, showing that there are existing alternatives to HFCs.

"You have industry saying, 'Yes, we'll solve this problem, but do it slowly,'" Davies said. "We believe it can be done much faster."

The study on HFC emissions will help show policymakers and companies where the world will be in 2050 without any action, said David Fahey, a research physician with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a co-author of the study. In the meantime, he said, delegates to the international treaties need to weigh the benefits and risks of protecting the ozone layer versus protecting against climate change.

"The world's got some very tough decisions to make," Fahey said.

(Source: The News Journa)l