Projects per year
Abstract
Under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, new controls are being implemented to reduce emissions of HFC-23 (CHF3), a by-product during the manufacture of HCFC-22 (CHClF2). Starting in 2015, China and India, who dominate global HCFC-22 production (75% in 2017), set out ambitious programs to reduce HFC-23 emissions. Here, we estimate that these measures should have seen global emissions drop by 87% between 2014 and 2017. Instead, atmospheric observations show that emissions have increased and in 2018 were higher than at any point in history (15.9 ± 0.9 Gg yr−1). Given the magnitude of the discrepancy between expected and observation-inferred emissions, it is likely that the reported reductions have not fully materialized or there may be substantial unreported production of HCFC-22, resulting in unaccounted-for HFC-23 by-product emissions. The difference between reported and observation-inferred estimates suggests that an additional ~309 Tg CO2-equivalent emissions were added to the atmosphere between 2015 and 2017.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 397 (2020) |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Volume | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 21 Jan 2020 |
Keywords
- HFC
- Montreal Protocol
- Kigali
- Emissions
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Dive into the research topics of 'Increase in global emissions of HFC-23 despite near-total expected reductions'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
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Advanced computing architecture to support the estimation and reporting of UK GHG emissions
Rigby, M. L. (Principal Investigator)
13/11/13 → 13/10/15
Project: Research
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Towards treaty verification of all non-CO2 greenhouse gasses - Dr Matthew Rigby
Rigby, M. L. (Principal Investigator)
1/01/12 → 31/12/16
Project: Research