Wooing India for ‘better climate’

After having China on board, US vice-president Joe Biden will like India to agree for a new arrangement to phase-out highly potent climate change causing gas hydroflorocarbons of HFCs. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jul 24, 2013, 24:02:25 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

After having China on board, US vice-president Joe Biden will like India to agree for a new arrangement to phase-out highly potent climate change causing gas hydroflorocarbons of HFCs.

HFCs are used in refrigerators and air conditioners and came into commercial use to replace ozone depleting chemicals under the 1987 Montreal Protocol.

Under the protocol, the developing countries got money from the developed world to phase out ozone depleting substances and by 2010 most countries had phased these substances.

By then, new scientific research had shown that HFCs are highly potent climate change causing gas. The US Environment Protect Agency had notified new chemicals called hydrocarbons -- produced by mostly developed countries -- to replace HFCs.

India and China had opposed the US proposal to discuss phasing out of HFCs under the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and said the issue should be discussed under the Montreal Protocol, which had led to introduction of HFC.

The US after much reluctance agreed to take up phasing out of HFCs under the Montreal Protocol and there was agreement on this with China when Premier Xi Jinping visited US in June.

“The United States and China will work together and with other countries to use the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons,” the White House had said in a statement during the visit.

Now, the government sources say US wants India to come on board on phasing out HFCs.

“We have no problem if the issue is discussed under Montreal Protocol which provides sufficient incentives for phasing out any chemical,” a senior government official said, adding that several Indian companies have money for phasing out ozone depleting substances.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.