The World Just Agreed To Stop Your Air-Conditioner Killing The Planet
A new global deal to limit the use of the greenhouse gases called hydrofluorocarbons may be one of our most powerful weapons yet against climate change.
On Saturday, nearly 200 countries signed a deal to limit the use of some powerful greenhouse gases in a major new effort to fight climate change.
Cyril Ndegeya / AFP / Getty Images
Meeting in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, negotiators stayed up all night to reach a final deal amending the Montreal Protocol to make serious cuts to the use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs.
The factory-made chemicals represent only a small fraction of total emissions, but can be thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide.
What are HFCs?
Charlie Riedel / AP
Hydrofluorocarbons are a type of greenhouse gas made up of an unnatural group of compounds containing carbon, fluorine, and hydrogen.
HFCs are created through human-related activities, including industry and manufacturing, according to the EPA.
HFCs can live in the atmosphere for a very, very long time and are only removed when they are destroyed by sunlight in the far upper atmosphere.
"HFCs are among the most potent and longest lasting type of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities," the EPA advises.