The report projects that total emissions of HCFCs will begin to decline in the coming decade due to measures agreed under the Montreal Protocol in 2007. But they are currently increasing faster than four years ago.
The most abundant one, HCFC-22, increased more than 50 percent faster in 2007-2008 than it did in 2003-2004. Abundances and emissions of HFCs currently are increasing at about eight percent per year, according to the report. HFC-23 is a byproduct of HCFC-22 production. Although it has no impact on the ozone layer, it is more than 14,000 times more powerful as a climate-warming greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas.
“This represents a further potential area for action within the overall climate change challenge,” said Steiner. “An international group of modellers working with UNEP recently concluded that current commitments and pledges linked with the Copenhagen Accord are unlikely to keep a global temperature rise to under 2 degrees Celsius by 2050,” he said.
“The gap between scientific reality and ambition is estimated to average around 4.7 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent per year – a gap that needs to be urgently bridged over the next decade or so if the 2 degree C target is to be met.”
Most climate scientists agree that keeping the global temperature rise to under 2 degrees Celsius is essential to averting the worst consequences of climate change – rising sea levels, extinction of species, extreme weather events, storms, floods, and droughts.
“The Montreal Protocol is an outstanding example of collaboration among scientists and decision-makers that has resulted in the successful mitigation of a serious environmental and societal threat,” said WMO Chief Jarraud.
“Human activities will continue to change the composition of the atmosphere,” said Jarraud. “WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch Program will, therefore, continue its crucial monitoring, research and assessment activities to provide scientific data needed to understand and ultimately predict environmental changes on both regional and global scales.”
Source: ENS Press Release dated September 16, 2010.
