China Threatens Venting Of HFC-23
China is threatening to release large amounts of HFC-23 into the atmosphere unless other nations pay what amounts to a climate ransom.
According to the Environmental Investigation Agency, the move is in respone to efforts to ban the trading of widely discredited HFC-23 offsets.
China’s threat comes after the European Union and other nations moved to ban HFC-23 credits from internal carbon trading mechanisms in recognition of the vast incentives created by credits in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
The significant amounts paid for Trifluoromethane offsets have led to factories in China and elsewhere manufacturing more HCFC-22 and its HFC-23 by-product than necessary, designed to maximise the amounts paid to destroy HFC-23 through the UN-backed carbon trading scheme.
Xie Fei, revenue management director at the China Clean Development Mechanism Fund, said: “If there’s no trading of [HFC-23] credits, they’ll stop incinerating the gases” and vent them directly into the atmosphere. Speaking at the Carbon Forum Asia in Singapore last week, Xei Fei claimed he spoke for “almost all the big Chinese producers of HFCs” who “can’t bear the cost” and maintain that “they’ll lose competitiveness”.
China’s claim belies the fact that HFC-23 can be destroyed for just £0.14 per CO2e tonne. The destruction of one CO2e tonne generates one Certified Emission Reduction (CER) under the CDM, which historically has been sold on carbon markets at an average price of £10 — 70 times the actual cost of destroying HFC-23.
China has repeatedly rejected attempts to help developing countries destroy HFC-23 emissions through the Montreal Protocol. At the 2009 and 2010 Meetings of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, China blocked progress of a North American proposal to pay the actual costs of destroying R-23 emissions at plants not currently covered by the CDM, which account for over half of developing country HFC-23 production.
HFC-23 is produced as an unintentional by-product of the refrigerant gas HCFC-22, itself a powerful greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance. This means that the quantity of HFC-23 produced is directly related to the production of HCFC-22. HFC-23 is an important contributor to climate change because of its incredibly high 100-year global warming potential (GWP) of 14,800.
“Attempting to force countries into squandering billions on fake offsets that actually increase production of greenhouse gases is extortion,” said Samuel LaBudde, Senior Atmospheric Campaigner with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). “China is not the victim here, and a world order responsive to climate change cannot be predicated on unrepentant greed.”
With a 65 per cent tax on CDM projects, the Chinese Government has already received £1.1 billion — enough to destroy all the HFC-23 it produces for decades to come.
“Carbon offsets derived from Halocarbon 23 crediting only serve to subsidise the production of greenhouse gases and have no place in the future of carbon markets,” said Mark Roberts, International Policy Advisor for EIA. “If China is genuinely concerned about climate change rather than profiting from a fatally flawed CDM system, it will stop blocking efforts to control HFC-23 emissions and support a way forward that does not involve holding global climate as a hostage to its unrealistic demands.”
According to the Environmental Investigation Agency, the move is in respone to efforts to ban the trading of widely discredited HFC-23 offsets.
China’s threat comes after the European Union and other nations moved to ban HFC-23 credits from internal carbon trading mechanisms in recognition of the vast incentives created by credits in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
The significant amounts paid for Trifluoromethane offsets have led to factories in China and elsewhere manufacturing more HCFC-22 and its HFC-23 by-product than necessary, designed to maximise the amounts paid to destroy HFC-23 through the UN-backed carbon trading scheme.
Xie Fei, revenue management director at the China Clean Development Mechanism Fund, said: “If there’s no trading of [HFC-23] credits, they’ll stop incinerating the gases” and vent them directly into the atmosphere. Speaking at the Carbon Forum Asia in Singapore last week, Xei Fei claimed he spoke for “almost all the big Chinese producers of HFCs” who “can’t bear the cost” and maintain that “they’ll lose competitiveness”.
China’s claim belies the fact that HFC-23 can be destroyed for just £0.14 per CO2e tonne. The destruction of one CO2e tonne generates one Certified Emission Reduction (CER) under the CDM, which historically has been sold on carbon markets at an average price of £10 — 70 times the actual cost of destroying HFC-23.
China has repeatedly rejected attempts to help developing countries destroy HFC-23 emissions through the Montreal Protocol. At the 2009 and 2010 Meetings of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, China blocked progress of a North American proposal to pay the actual costs of destroying R-23 emissions at plants not currently covered by the CDM, which account for over half of developing country HFC-23 production.
HFC-23 is produced as an unintentional by-product of the refrigerant gas HCFC-22, itself a powerful greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance. This means that the quantity of HFC-23 produced is directly related to the production of HCFC-22. HFC-23 is an important contributor to climate change because of its incredibly high 100-year global warming potential (GWP) of 14,800.
“Attempting to force countries into squandering billions on fake offsets that actually increase production of greenhouse gases is extortion,” said Samuel LaBudde, Senior Atmospheric Campaigner with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). “China is not the victim here, and a world order responsive to climate change cannot be predicated on unrepentant greed.”
With a 65 per cent tax on CDM projects, the Chinese Government has already received £1.1 billion — enough to destroy all the HFC-23 it produces for decades to come.
“Carbon offsets derived from Halocarbon 23 crediting only serve to subsidise the production of greenhouse gases and have no place in the future of carbon markets,” said Mark Roberts, International Policy Advisor for EIA. “If China is genuinely concerned about climate change rather than profiting from a fatally flawed CDM system, it will stop blocking efforts to control HFC-23 emissions and support a way forward that does not involve holding global climate as a hostage to its unrealistic demands.”