According to a report released on Monday by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) in London, the smuggling of large amounts of climate-warming refrigerant gases into Europe illegally from China and Turkey undermines a global agreement to phase out these gases. This illegal activity poses a significant challenge to efforts aimed at combating climate change.
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are a class of chemicals that are mostly used for cooling in industry and retail. Unlike other prohibited refrigerants, HFCs do not destroy the ozone layer. However, they are classified as greenhouse gases because they have potencies that can be thousands of times greater than those of carbon dioxide.
After a two-year undercover investigation, the EIA reported that despite pledges to decrease the use of HFC, law enforcement agencies throughout the European Union are finding it difficult to monitor illegal shipments arriving through Turkey, Russia, or Ukraine. Smugglers are using more advanced strategies to avoid detection.
EIA activist Fin Walravens stated, “It’s still pretty easy to find illegal HFCs in the European market.” “There are signs that traders are adapting their methods, that they are getting a bit of savvy trying to evade authorities.”
“If you can sneak in the most polluting, nastiest gas, you’re basically getting the biggest buck.”
The Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol in 2016 included a commitment by industrialized nations, including Europe, to reduce HFC use by 85% between 2012 and 2036. Authorized HFC producers and users are given quotas that are gradually lowered in order to facilitate the phase-down.
However, the survey indicated that because of the ongoing high demand, the phase-downs have increased prices, which has incentivized smugglers—many of whom are also legal traders—to increase the amount of available supply.
“It is so much easier if you’re licensed to just exceed your quota: it is so hard to prove,” Walravens stated. “The phase-down is meant to make HFCs expensive and make people think alternatives are better and more cost effective, but if illegal trade comes in and is sold at half the price, the whole system crumbles.”
A 2021 EIA study reveals that illegal HFCs smuggled into Europe may account for 20–30% of amounts traded legitimately. This could amount to up to 30 million tons of CO2, according to the investigation. Although an updated estimate was not included in the current study, Walravens stated that “very little has changed”.
China, the world’s largest producer of HFCs, has granted production permits equal to 185 million tons of CO2 this year to 39 authorized manufacturers. With this, China solidifies its position as the leading contributor to HFC production globally. In order to penalize companies that surpass their quotas, it adopted new regulations in December.
Ian Rae, a technical consultant to the Montreal Protocol and professor at the University of Melbourne, stated that governments have been “unable or unwilling to crack down” on chemical phase-outs, even in cases where substitute products are readily available.
“There always seems to be demand from customers who have been happy with the old product and reluctant to change to the new, which can be more expensive,” he stated.
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