Rogue HFC23 emissions threaten climate targets

UK: The world’s climate targets are said to be being jeopardised by huge emissions of HFC23, a high GWP greenhouse gas used as a feedstock and in ultra-low temperature refrigeration.

According to a new report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), HFC23 emissions reached a record high of 17,300 tonnes in 2019, equivalent to more than 250 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

In a statement before next week’s 36th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Bangkok, the EIA warns that the failure to address these emissions lies primarily with lax monitoring and reporting which has allowed the damaging activities of the fluorochemical industry to continued unchecked.

HFC23 has an atmospheric lifetime of 228 years and a GWP of 14,700 over a 100-year period. It has limited industrial applications but is still permitted to be used as a feedstock and in ultra-low temperature refrigeration. It is produced and emitted primarily as a byproduct of manufacturing ozone-depleting HCFC22, which is mostly used to produce fluoropolymers such as PTFE (Teflon).

The EIA maintains that HFC23 can be captured and destroyed at relatively low cost to prevent emissions, “But despite billions of previous investment in the chemical industry via the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s carbon trading scheme and, more recently, a requirement under the 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to capture and destroy the gas, recent assessments indicate that emissions are far higher than anticipated,” the group says.

Cumulative HFC23 emissions since the adoption of the Kigali Amendment are put at almost 106,000 tonnes, equivalent to 1.56 billion tonnes of CO2.

“Our planetary system can ill afford such reckless and pointless greenhouse gas emissions, coming from an industry that has been subsidised to the tune of billions of dollars. The fluorochemical industry has flown under the radar for far too long, it’s time for some accountability,” said EIA UK climate campaign leader Clare Perry.

“Although emissions decreased from 2019-22, they remain higher than anticipated, underscoring ongoing compliance issues and the need for effective monitoring and regulation of the fluorochemical industry,” the EIA maintains.

Emissions from China are said to account for up to half of the global HFC23 emissions gap over the period 2015-22.

“Scientific studies have shed light on the massive scale of HFC23 emissions, but we still can’t identify the actual sources of about 75% of the emissions, making it hard to hold emitters to account. While China is clearly a major source, there are still significant gaps in the atmospheric data for other parts of the world which must be addressed,” said EIA UK climate campaigner Dr Joanna Sparks.

The EIA is calling for a strong response from the Parties to the Montreal Protocol when they meet in Bangkok, including demanding greater transparency and provision of information from countries with fluoropolymer and HCFC22 production, the establishment of clear guidelines for measuring and reporting HFC23 emissions and efforts from all countries to reduce emissions from ongoing uses of HFC23.

“Although the TEAP appears confident that all major sources of HFC23 emissions have been identified, its ability to fully elucidate emissions sources is severely hampered by a significant lack of data due to industry confidentiality, as well as a plethora of monitoring and reporting inadequacies, including under-reporting of emissions recently exposed in Europe,” the report states.

The new EIA report, Unchecked — The fluorochemical industry’s scandalous HFC-23 by-product emissions amid the climate crisis, can be viewed and downloaded here.