Global funding to decide India’s HFC phase out

India’s policy push towards widely limiting hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) release would depend significantly on funding provided by developed nations, an environment ministry official said on Tuesday.

HFCs are factory-made chemicals that are primarily used in air-conditioning, refrigeration, and foam insulation. These can be hundreds to thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide in contributing to climate change.

A group of 16 countries, including the US, UK, Japan, Germany and Australia, has agreed to provide $27m next year to help support an early end to HFCs but developing nations have pushed for more support. Signatories to the Montreal Protocol will be meeting in early October in Kigali, Rwanda to discuss these issues.

Additional Secretary in the Environment Ministry R R Rashmi said: “There are different estimates as to what it will cost to make the switch but we must emphasise in Kigali the commitment of donor countries has to be absolute and this assurance is necessary to fulfil any commitments India makes.”

India is one of the countries that has held out on accepting the 1987 Montreal Protocol deadline on completely freezing HFC use. Though the Protocol allows for “differentiated responsibilities” for developing and developed nations, the US has been pushing for a baseline year of 2018 for phasing out HFCs and a complete freeze on their use by 2020, while India is pushing for a 2028-31 deadline. after reports suggested the firm stopped the remaining installments of the dues. In an emailed statement, Infosys said the severance agreement with Bansal includes rights and obligations of the parties that is usual for such type of agreement.