UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE SUMMIT 2014

As global leaders and industry heads gather in New York for the UN Secretary-General’s historic climate summit, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) calls on governments and the private sector to commit to concrete action to eliminate hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a family of greenhouse gases which are hundreds to thousands of times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide.

 

EIA representatives are in New York today to deliver the message that time is running out to prevent the planet’s climate system from reaching a catastrophic tipping point.

 

“There are solutions to the climate crisis, including a phase-out of the consumption and production of HFCs under the Montreal Protocol,” said EIA US Executive Director Alexander von Bismarck. “Such a global commitment would mitigate more than 100 billion metric tonnes of CO₂-equivalent by 2050. It is crucial that world leaders use the Summit as an opportunity to announce ambitions such as this.”

 

“The political response to climate change to date has been wholly inadequate,” said Clare Perry, Head of EIA UK’s Climate Campaign. “The international community now stands at a crossroads  - in one direction lies political apathy, unstoppable climate change and massive disruption to life as we know it and in the other is affirmative action to rein in greenhouse gas emissions and an opportunity to bring the planet back from the brink. We urge all leaders to grasp this low-hanging fruit and support a global phase-out of HFCs under the Montreal Protocol in recognition of the substantial mitigation potential available.”

 

HFC emissions are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, and are predicted to reach 5.5-8.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent by 2050, representing 9-19 per cent of global CO₂ emissions under a business-as-usual scenario.

 

EIA has been campaigning at regional, national and global levels for an end to ozone-depleting and climate-damaging chemicals for nearly a decade. 

For more information on EIA's HFC work, please view the Fact Sheet at http://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/HFC-fact-sheet-for-UNSG-FINAL.pdf