On Monday the 30th of November 2015, world leaders will gather together in Paris for the 21st Conference of the Parties. The purpose of the COP21 is to achieve a universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.

Mark Kenber, CEO at “The Climate Group”, writes about the upcoming event and shows some signs of optimism, as he says that we are in a much better position than we were in the lead-up to the last major attempt to secure a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, in 2009 at COP15 in Copenhagen.

And it seems he is right, since 158 countries, representing the 88% of the world’s population and almost the 90% of all greenhouse gas emissions production, have submitted their INDCs so far. Intended Nationally Determined Contributions are climate plans in which countries explain how they are going to reduce carbon emissions and which are going to be independent of what will be agreed at COP21.

In September, during the latest EU Environment Council, the European Union remarked that the Paris agreement should be ambitious and legally binding. This statement is echoed by the China’s chief climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, who pushes for a powerful, ambitious and legally binding deal as well. Not only. Zhenhua also remarks the need for the so-called developed countries to do their parts to support developing countries to reduce carbon emissions, through the USD 100 billion plan.

The UNFCCC has recently published a new report titled “Climate Action Now. Summary for Policymakers 2015“, which stresses the urgency of the need to move towards a low carbon economy in order to keep global warming below 2 °C. According to the UNFCCC, a combined action from both countries and non-state actors – such as investors, businesses, NGOs – is required to bring technology and policies to foster emissions reduction.

Many good and important initiatives have been carried out around the world so far, but there is still much to do.

UNFCCC calls for example for a scaling up of low carbon investments, underlining the co-benefits deriving from this action, such as the major energy security, the major energy access – we should not forget that today nearly 1.3 billion people in the world do not have access to electricity – and a general health improvement.

One of the main solutions to achieve a low carbon economy is represented by renewable energy, a sector that, excluding water power, accounted for the 9% of global electricity generation in 2014, with an increase in investments of 500% since 2004. This call for the improvement of renewables comes also from the new WBCSD report, where sixteen leading companies call to double renewable energy capacity by 2025. The report underlines that scaling up renewables would facilitate the achievement of the 2°C target, and in addition to this, it demonstrates that renewable energy is feasible, reliable, increasingly competitive and an economically viable solution.

To know something more about decarbonisation and climate action, there is nothing left to do but wait for the COP21.

Read more here:

http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/news-and-blogs/paris-is-just-the-beginning-mark-kenber/

http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/news-and-blogs/china-wants-a-powerful-ambitious-and-legally-binding-deal-in-paris/

http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/news-and-blogs/unfccc-calls-for-climate-action-now-new-report/

http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/news-and-blogs/leading-companies-call-to-double-renewable-energy-in-10-years-wbcsd-report/

According to a new study by NASA, published on the 22^nd of October 2015 in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) show a small but measurable effect on ozone depletion.

The recent study focused on five types of HFCs that are expected to contribute to global warming by 2050 – R125, R143a, R134a, R32 and R23.

The study does not reveal that HFCs are a big threat to the ozone layer, but it does show that their impact is not zero, as always claimed. In fact, as reported by AGU HFC emissions cause increased warming of the stratosphere, speeding up the chemical reactions that destroy ozone molecules, and they also decrease ozone levels in the tropics by accelerating the upward movement of ozone-poor air. According to the NASA climate model the study is based on, the HFCs are expected to cause 0,035% decrease in ozone by 2050.

This impact can be considered very small, compared to predecessors that HFCs have replaced, like hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and especially chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are mainly responsible for the ozone depletion and which have been gradually phased out after the Montreal Protocol. To learn more about the HCFC and CFC phase out, read here: http://refrigerants.danfoss.com/hcfc-cfc/

What arises from this study is that HFCs should no longer be considered as zero ODP refrigerants, but rather as weak ozone-depleting substances.

This is a very interesting study that contributes to the discussion around HFCs and their full impact on the ozone.

About HFCs the “New Climate Economy” recently published a paper titled “Phasing Down the Use of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)”, recommending that Parties to the Montreal Protocol approve an amendment to phase down HFCs, widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners. The reason behind this is that, while HFCs are only weak ozone-depleting substances, they are, like CFCs and HCFCs, strong greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming. In fact, although they are short-lived climate pollutants, staying in the atmosphere for about 15 years or less, they are so potent that their warming impact is up to about 3,000 times that of CO2 for the most commonly used HFCs.

Bearing all this in mind, the paper co-author Durwood Zaelke states that an important part of winning the climate challenge is winning the battle against HFCs. Not only. According to co-author Maxime Beaugrand the HFCs phase-down is technically feasible, economically attractive, and environmentally responsible, as replacing HFCs with greener alternatives has low upfront costs and can improve energy efficiency by as much as 50% or more.

About HFCs the “Climate and Clean Air Coalition” partners will discuss during the 27^th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, which will take place in the United Arab Emirates 1 to 5 November 2015. Learn more about the initiative promoted by the CCAC: http://new.ccacoalition.org/en/initiatives/hfc

Read the full article about the study here: http://news.agu.org/press-release/new-study-shows-that-common-coolants-contribute-to-ozone-depletion/

To know more about the “Phasing Down the Use of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)” paper: http://newclimateeconomy.net/content/press-release-montreal-protocol-best-way-reduce-super-pollutant-hfcs-says-new-climate