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HFC REPORTED EMISSIONS GROWTH FOR ANNEX 1 COUNTRIES MUCH SLOWER SINCE 2000 – RAPID EMISSIONS GROWTH IN CHINA

01 June 2014

A recent scientific paper shows that, while HFC emissions calculated from atmospheric measurements have grown significantly from 1995 to 2012 (up to 700 Gigatonnes/year CO2 eq.), HFC emissions reported to UNFCCC have actually shown a much slower growth since 1998-2000 (settling about 200-300 Gigatonnes/year CO2 eq.). Only so-called “Annex 1” countries (most developed countries) have been required to report their HFC emissions to UNFCCC, and the study shows that their currently reported HFC emissions represent less than half of global HFC emissions.Based on recent observations, it appears therefore that East Asia and in particular China HFC emissions have become the largest and the more rapidly growing.The paper also addresses the way to reduce HFC’s future radiative forcing, as its rapid growth from 1995 to 2012 is a matter of concern. It shows that bringing HFCs into the Montreal Protocol could lead to a decline of 26 % in HFC radiative forcing by 2050, in contrast to scenarios like Velders et al.  

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