Credit: UNFCCC
Countries to Curb HFCs Under Montreal Protocol, Climate Indicators Set New Highs
The Huffington Post (11/5) said the world’s countries agreed to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – one of six main greenhouse gases – under the Montreal Protocol, which is the only U.N. treaty with all 197 U.N. countries participating. Parties including the U.S. reportedly wanted to move faster, but others pressed to delay until after Paris climate talks this December.
The U.N. Environment Programme News Centre (11/6) said that HFC emissions are growing at about 7 percent annually and that a phase-down will avoid the equivalent of 100 billion tons of carbon dioxide and more than 0.5°C of warming by 2050.
The Washington Post (11/9) said two new reports showed global climate change indicators breaking records in 2015. A report from the WMO said average levels of carbon dioxide exceeded 400 parts per million in early 2015, a 43 percent rise over pre-industrial levels. Meanwhile, the Met Office and Climatic Research Unit at Britain’s University of East Anglia said average global temperatures were 1.02 degrees Celsius above historic norms in the first nine months of 2015.
The New York Times (11/10) ran an in-depth piece on climate change and India, highlighting the difficult challenge India faces in balancing economic growth, which is needed to lift hundreds of millions of people from poverty, against measures to address climate change, which is a growing risk to prosperity and stability for hundreds of millions.
The Green Climate Fund (11/6) approved its first eight investments, including three projects in Africa, three in Asia-Pacific and two in Latin America.
