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Jakarta - A group of chemicals increasingly used in products
such as refrigerators and air conditioners, while ozone-friendly, is a
significant contributor to climate change, a UN report said Tuesday.
The chemicals, known as hydroflurocarbons (HFCs), could be
responsible for emissions equivalent to between 3.5 and 8.8 gigatons of carbon
dioxide worldwide, according to the report released by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP).
That is comparable to the total current annual emissions
from transport, the report said.
The original chemicals used in air conditioners and
refrigerators, known as CFCs, were phased out globally in 2010. Their
first-generation replacements, HCFCs, are also being phased out.
"However, a new challenge is rapidly emerging as
countries move ahead of HCFCs and that is HFCs," UNEP executive director
Achim Steiner said.
"While these 'replacements for the replacement'
chemicals cause near zero damage to the ozone layer, they are powerful
greenhouse gases," he said.
But technological solutions and alternatives exist,
according to the report titled A Critical Link in Protecting Climate and the
Ozone Layer.
HFCs are already controlled under the UN's Framework
Convention for Combating Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, along with CO2,
methane and other greenhouse gases.
Efforts to protect the ozone layer are carried out under the
earlier Montreal Protocol.
"Cooperative action between these treaties may be the
key to fast action on HFCs, assisting to maintain momentum on recovering the
ozone layer while simultaneously reducing risks of accelerated climate
change," Steiner said.