By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House will send an international agreement that requires countries to phase out greenhouse gases frequently found in refrigerators and air conditioners to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday for ratification, administration officials told Reuters.
The so-called Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol is a global treaty to reduce hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, that the United States has not yet ratified. The amendment calls for the phase-down of HFCs, a potent contributor to global warming.
The move comes shortly after President Joe Biden’s trip to Glasgow, Scotland, for the U.N. climate conference. Biden has pledged that the United States will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 50%-52% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.
The officials said U.S. businesses and climate advocacy groups favored ratification of the amendment, implementation of which could prevent as much as a half degree Celsius in warming by the end of the century.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Dan Grebler)
