"Monumental" international agreement against greenhouse gases

Rich nations - the EU, US, and others - will reduce the use of fluoro-hydrocarbons by 10% by 2019. But China - main producer - will begin the reduction by 2029. India will reduce by 10% only in 2032.

Kigali (AsiaNews) - Representatives of 197 nations that are signatories to the Montreal Protocol, launched an agreement overnight for the drastic reduction of fluoro-hydrocarbons (HFOs), the gases used in refrigerators, air conditioners and sprays, responsible for the greenhouse effect and global warming.

The agreement - signed in Kigali (Rwanda) - provides that the wealthiest nations will cut the use of HFOs by 2019. The European Union, the United States and other nations will reduce the use of HFOs by at least 10%; some developing nations will begin to reduce the use by 2024.

India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the Gulf States will begin instead by 2028. China, main producer of HFOs, will not cut production until 2029. India, which is also among the biggest polluters of the planet, is expected to reach 10% reduction only in 2032.

Because of these differences in the implementation, the agreement is judged by some as "monumental", by others with more skepticism, for the concessions given to the two Asian giants.

Experts, however, are convinced that if the agreement is implemented, it will gradually affect industrial production and even China and India will rush to implement it in order not to lose the market.

With this agreement, scientists hope to reduce the planet’s temperature by at least half a degree.

The Montreal Protocol was adopted in 1987 and aims to totally suppress HFO production, which is chiefly responsible for the hole in the ozone and the greenhouse effect. Unfortunately, since Montreal the emission of these gases has increased by 10-15% per year.

• asia
• economy
• climate
• change
• greenhouse
• gas
• warming
• pollution
• glaciers
• fluorohydrocarbons