The Two Billion Tonne Climate Bomb: How to Defuse the HFC-23 Problem

China and India are expected to release vast amounts of the chemical hydroflourocarbon-23 (HFC-23) into the atmosphere, causing global greenhouse gas emissions to skyrocket.

HFC-23 – a by-product of the production HCFC-22, primarily used in air-conditioning and refrigeration – is 14,800 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide (CO²).

Our investigators discovered that many Chinese and Indian facilities, despite having destruction technology readily available, are releasing or threatening to emit the by-product unless they receive additional financing to dispose of the chemicals.