Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 21

Experts have given a thumbs-up to the Union Cabinet’s approval to the ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, saying India has exemplified its climate leadership with the process and that early phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) will also make the Indian industry globally competitive in climate-friendly cooling products.

“There is a big opportunity for the country to be on course for an early phase down of HFCs, through domestic innovation, which would also make Indian industry globally competitive in climate-friendly cooling products,” said Prima Madan, lead consultant, Energy Efficiency and Cooling, Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) India Program, adding that “India has exemplified its climate leadership by ratifying the Kigali Amendment”.

Shikha Bhasin from the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) called it the right signal to ensure low-GWP and alternative cooling technologies’ deployment not just in one of the world’s largest cooling markets, but also for several countries around the world considering climate actions in this pivotal year.

“As the first country to come up with a National Cooling Action Plan, an industry transitioning towards climate-friendly gases, and now this global political ratification of the Kigali Amendment well before its peaking year is yet another feather in India’s cooling and climate cap before the upcoming COP26 this year.

“We need to now compound our strategic attention towards collaborative R&D and business model innovations to increase deployment of clean cooling solutions, and simultaneously ensure market readiness through a well-trained servicing sector and standards that support industrial growth and a competitive market in India,” she added.

Meanwhile, Alex Hillbrand, HFC Advocate, Climate and Clean Energy and International Program, NRDC, called India’s Kigali Amendment ratification “among the most significant of any country”.

SN Tripathi, Head of Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur, and Steering Committee Member, National Clean Air Programme, said tireless efforts that led to the Kigali amendment had resulted in the agreement of phasing out HFCs in a time-bound fashion. “Many HFCs have very high global warming potential. India’s ratification of the Kigali amendment is a welcome decision that will collectively help avoid 0.5 degrees C which is a significant climate co-benefit,” said Tripathi.

Making yet another step towards helping prevent climate change and benefiting people, the Union Cabinet recently gave the nod for ratification of the Kigali Amendment for phase-down of HFCs by India.

The phase-down of HFCs is expected to prevent the emission of up to 105 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases, helping to avoid up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global temperature rise by 2100, while continuing to protect the ozone layer, officials said.

India also became one of the first countries in the world to launch a cooling action plan in 2019.