Climate
Campaign Focus Areas
- Preventing Illegal Trade
Preventing Illegal Trade
Illegal production, use, and trade in banned or controlled ozone-depleting substances and greenhouse gases used in the cooling sector remains a critical obstacle to international efforts to limit the worst impacts of climate change.
Resources
- EPA Grants Petitions to Transition Technologies Away from HFCs
EPA Grants Petitions to Transition Technologies Away from HFCs
Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) responded to a series of petitions requesting certain sectors be required to transition away from using most hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in newly manufactured products. EPA granted or partially granted multiple petitions, including the petition submitted by EIA that calls on EPA to replicate HFC regulations recently finalized in California. Other petitions submitted by the California Air Resources Board and other states, and the International Institute for Ammonia Refrigeration call for a similar approach.
- Landmark EPA Climate Rulemaking Takes Aim at U.S. Phasedown of Super-Pollutant HFCs
Landmark EPA Climate Rulemaking Takes Aim at U.S. Phasedown of Super-Pollutant HFCs
The Environmental Protection Agency has published a landmark new climate regulation to establish an allocation system to cap and begin phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the super pollutant greenhouse gases used mainly in cooling.
- EIA briefing to OEWG43: Unexpected CFC-11 emissions
EIA briefing to OEWG43: Unexpected CFC-11 emissions
Briefing to the 43rd Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol (OEWG 43)
- First-Ever Walmart Shareholder Resolution on Climate-Damaging Refrigerants Passes Key Threshold for Support
First-Ever Walmart Shareholder Resolution on Climate-Damaging Refrigerants Passes Key Threshold for Support
Today, Walmart investors voted on the first-ever shareholder resolution on refrigerants and their related climate impacts. The initial count indicates 5.5 percent of investors voted in favor of the proposal filed by Rhode Island Treasurer Seth Magaziner, urging Walmart to disclose how it will limit its impact on climate change by increasing the scale, pace, and rigor of its plans to significantly scale back hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in its operations.
- U.S. EPA Proposes Landmark Climate Rule to Initiate HFC Phase-down
U.S. EPA Proposes Landmark Climate Rule to Initiate HFC Phase-down
Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposed rulemaking to establish an allocation system for the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The proposed rule is the first step to implement the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM Act), the new climate law that sets the U.S. on course for compliance with the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. The rule proposes an allowance allocation and trading system, which will determine the amount of HFCs an entity can produce or consume, and create the mechanism to phase-down domestic HFCs.
- Unkept Promises: Chemours Newest Targets Miss the Mark
Unkept Promises: Chemours Newest Targets Miss the Mark
Following EIA’s call to cease irresponsible operations and subsequent mounting press pressure, the American chemical giant, the Chemours company released a new statement on their climate goals yesterday.
- EIA Petitions EPA to Restore US Climate Ambition on HFCs
EIA Petitions EPA to Restore US Climate Ambition on HFCs
Today the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) joined by several other organizations petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to restrict the use of super-pollutant hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in key cooling sectors, under new authority from the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act. HFCs are man-made climate pollutants thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide. HFCs are used mainly as refrigerants in air conditioning, heat pumps, and refrigeration, with other applications in foams, aerosols, fire suppression, semiconductor manufacturing, and solvents.
- Template: Letter of Support for EIA AIM Act Petition
Template: Letter of Support for EIA AIM Act Petition
Interested organizations can submit a letter of support for EIA’s petition to EPA to restrict HFC uses under the AIM Act. Please download the attached template above to submit a letter to newberg.cindy@epa.gov.
- EIA Petition to EPA Under AIM Act
EIA Petition to EPA Under AIM Act
EIA is petitioning EPA to use its authority under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM Act), a new climate law passed in December 2020. The AIM Act authorizes EPA to phase down HFCs through three mechanisms of an allowance system, technology transitions, and regulations to minimize release through refrigerant management.
- Pathway to Net-Zero: Cooling Product List
Pathway to Net-Zero: Cooling Product List
The climate impact of cooling equipment, including fridges and air-conditioners, is two-fold: they use huge amounts of electricity and often rely on super-polluting refrigerant gases such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).