Beyond CO2: Study reveals growing importance of HFCs in climate warming

Some of the substances that are helping to avert the destruction of the ozone layer could increasingly contribute to climate warming, according to scientists from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory and their colleagues in a new study published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The authors took a fresh look at how the global use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is expected to grow in coming decades. Using updated usage estimates and looking farther ahead than past projections (to the year 2050), they found that HFCs

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“HFCs are good for protecting the ozone layer, but they are not climate friendly,” said David W. Fahey, a scientist at NOAA and second author of the new study. “Our research shows that their effect on climate could become significantly larger than we expected, if we continue along a business-as-usual path.”

HFCs currently have a climate change contribution that is small (less than 1 percent) in comparison to the contribution of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The authors have shown that by 2050 the HFCs contribution could rise to 7 to 12 percent of what CO2 contributes. And if international efforts succeed in stabilizing CO2 emissions, the relative climate contribution from HFCs would increase further.

Physorg