Africa: Poor Nations Urged to Leapfrog Harmful HFC Refrigerants

13 October 2014

Efforts to rid the world of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a group of powerful greenhouse gases mainly used as refrigerants, may depend on developing nations being able to leapfrog these chemicals to less harmful alternatives, an environmental group has warned.

HFCs were introduced following the 1989 Montreal Protocol as a replacement for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which deplete the ozone layer, part of the atmosphere that helps to absorb harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. But while HFCs do not destroy ozone, they are potent greenhouse gases.

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