GLOBAL TRENDS: Two pieces of good news in the battle for the climate have buoyed sentiment this week.
In the US president Joe Biden has signalled all new licences for LNG export terminals have been halted pending a public interest test. And across the Atlantic the European parliament signed an agreement to phase out of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by 2050.
In Europe the decision to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by 2050, springs from a provisional deal between the EU parliament and council in October 2023, which involves cutting out fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) to meet the union’s climate goals.
Fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) are powerful greenhouse gases found in everyday products such as refrigerators or airconditioning, and the most common F-gases are HFCs, which contain hydrogen, fluorine, and carbon. HFCs have an average atmospheric lifetime of 15 years.
The vote favouring the total phase out was 457 in favour of the agreement, 92 against and 32 abstentions. Following the new rules, the EU market will now see strict legislation prohibiting products containing F-gases from entering the EU market.
The agreement also includes a trajectory on reducing the EU consumption quota on HFCs between 2024 and 2049, including phase out dates for using F-gases in sectors where switching to alternatives is technologically and economically feasible.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), HFCs currently represent around 2 per cent of total greenhouse gases, although their impact on global warming can be hundreds to thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide.
Bas Eickhout, the leading negotiator on the F-gas regulation and member of the European parliament representing the Greens, said the deal is a “huge victory for the climate”.
“Getting rid of these super greenhouse gases will send a clear message to the market that it’s time to switch to greener alternatives,” Eickhout said.
“This is essential for the climate and good for European industry, which will remain at the forefront of innovation and cleaner products.”
In 2016, the world had committed to phasing out F-gases through the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
Climate activist Bill McKibben said the US decision was:
“The biggest check any president has ever applied to the fossil fuel industry, and the strongest move against dirty energy in American history. And if you have any doubts, check out the tears of outrage from Big Oil. (Fox News coverage here, if you’re experienced in handling schadenfreude).
Here’s key points in his take aways:
- The pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” that John Kerry and the rest of the world’s governments signed in Dubai was given actual meaning by Biden’s move. He’s thrown down the gauntlet to other world leaders: the world’s biggest hydrocarbon producer has said we’ve reached a limit.
- There’s finally an actual climate test in place for American fossil fuel expansion plans…now needs to be formally expanded to every decision we make!
- That climate test must also be a test about the impacts on communities. But if you have any doubts, read this remarkable report, out yesterday, from Antonia Juhasz and Human Rights Watch outlining the “dire health crisis from the government’s failure to rein in fossil fuels.”
- The days of thinking of natural gas as a “bridge fuel” are waning. Since natural gas has been the Democratic vice (coal is the Republican kink), it took Biden to really drive this point home. And it’s huge!