[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 156 (Tuesday, September 27, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5047-S5048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TREATY DOCUMENT NO. 117-1

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I wish to commend the adoption of the 
resolution of ratification with respect to Treaty Document No. 117-1, 
amendment to the Montreal Protocol. Adopting the Kigali Amendment, as 
it is better known, will formalize the U.S. commitment to phase down 
the use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, under the global climate 
treaty. These industrial chemicals commonly found in air conditioners 
and refrigerators, insulating foams, and pharmaceutical inhalers are 
potent greenhouse gases. This historic achievement is the latest in a 
series by a Congress that will be remembered for its unprecedented 
action to combat climate change and future-proof our economy.
  Fittingly, last week was Climate Week NYC, an event that has taken 
place every year in New York City since 2009. The summit takes place 
alongside the UN General Assembly and brings together international 
leaders from business, government, and civil society to showcase global 
climate action.
  A working paper on HFCs produced for the New Climate Economy by 
Nathan Borgford-Parnell, Maxime Beaugrand, Stephen O. Anderson, and 
Durwood Zaelke of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable 
Development, highlights HFC phasedown as one of the greatest 
opportunities to mitigate climate change quickly.
  Specifically, reducing HFC use in line with the Kigali Amendment to 
Montreal Protocol could avoid 0.5 degree Celsius--0.9 degree 
Fahrenheit--of warming by 2100. That will go a long way toward limiting 
warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius under the Paris Agreement and avoiding 
the worst impacts of climate change. U.S. adoption of the resolution, 
which has been ratified by 137 countries, contributes to delivering on 
that commitment and cements the consensus on climate ambition as a 
complement to thriving economies.
  I would like to reflect on how we arrived at this moment. Under the 
Montreal Protocol, participating countries

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agreed to replace ozone-depleting products, such as 
chlorofluorocarbons--CFCs--found in refrigerants, aerosols, and 
solvents to help address the hole in the ozone layer. As a result, 
there has been a 97-percent reduction in the global consumption of 
controlled ozone-depleting substances, with minimal economic 
disruption.
  Hydrofluorocarbons--HFCs--make up the majority of the ozone-friendly 
products being used today to replace CFCs. HFCs can now be found in 
nearly every home in the United States, namely in our air conditioners 
and refrigerators. Although HFCs were developed as an ozone-layer-
preserving alternative to historical refrigerants, they are now known 
to be highly potent greenhouse gases--hundreds or thousands of times 
more so than carbon dioxide. This discovery challenged policymakers and 
manufacturers to keep innovating.
  On October 15, 2016, in Kigali, Rwanda, more than 170 countries 
negotiated an amendment to the Montreal Protocol to include a global 
phasedown of HFCs. The goal of the Kigali Amendment is to achieve an 80 
percent or greater reduction in global HFC consumption and production 
by 2047.
  Five years and three Presidential administrations later, on November 
16, 2021, President Biden transmitted the Kigali Amendment to the U.S. 
Senate, which was referred to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee, where I am proud to serve. The Foreign Relations Committee 
voted the Kigali Amendment out of committee by voice vote earlier this 
year.
  Today, U.S. businesses stand to benefit tremendously from the global 
phase-down in hydrofluorocarbons--HFCs--and, thereby, the ratification 
of Kigali. This includes chemicals manufacturers such as Honeywell, 
air-conditioning and refrigeration companies, and major retail 
companies like Walmart. Honeywell, headquartered in North Carolina, has 
a safety product manufacturing presence in Silver Spring, MD. I applaud 
the U.S. businesses at the forefront of innovation and development of 
commercially viable alternatives to HFCs that have already invested 
billions of dollars in developing alternatives to HFCs, including in 
anticipation of U.S. ratification of Kigali. This investment in 
research and development and new capacity, mainly in the U.S., will 
advance our ability to produce next-generation refrigerants, insulation 
materials, aerosols, and solvents here at home, insulating our economy 
from supply chain disruptions.
  In fact, the United States is already implementing domestic 
authorities to phase down the use of HFCs in a manner entirely 
consistent with Kigali, under the American Manufacturing and 
Innovation--AIM--Act that I am proud to have supported as a member of 
the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. During the 
challenging early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee gathered 
information from stakeholders on legislation introduced by Senators 
Kennedy and Chairman Carper to establish a domestic phasedown of 
hydrofluorocarbons--HFCs--consistent with the Kigali Amendment to the 
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. We heard 
from an extraordinary range of industry and environmental stakeholder 
groups supporting this legislation, particularly those most directly 
affected.
  It was through this process that I learned that a Maryland academic 
institution had contributed to the consensus around the economic 
benefits of ratification. INFORUM, or Inter-industry Forecasting at the 
University of Maryland, produced an analysis cited by the U.S. Chamber 
of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, and many of the 
firms and industry associations that support the AIM bill. The 
University of Maryland study found that the phasedown of HFCs will 
create 33,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs. When the indirect and 
induced effects were added to estimate the total impact, the number of 
jobs gained rose to 150,000.
  On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 was 
enacted, which included the American Innovation and Manufacturing--
AIM--Act. The legislative language was nearly identical to the 
bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Kennedy and Carper, which 
had broad bipartisan backing in the Senate, with 16 Republican 
cosponsors. EPA has already started implementing the AIM Act, with the 
first regulations issued in October 2021.
  Even before the Federal action taken in the last 2 years, States were 
acting in their interests to reduce HFCs. In November 2020, the 
Maryland Department of the Environment--MDE--finalized regulations to 
phase out the use of HFCs and reduce methane emissions to help meet the 
State's aggressive climate and environmental goals for reducing 
greenhouse gases.
  This sub-national action was designed to help Maryland meet its 
requirements under the State's emissions reduction target, which was 
subsequently made even more ambitious when the Climate Solutions Now 
Act become State law. The act set a new target of net zero by 2045, 
while continuing to have a net positive effect on the economy and job 
creation. Maryland participates in the U.S. Climate Alliance and is a 
member of the multi-State Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative--RGGI.
  Maryland is also a leader for green building in the U.S., having been 
included in the Top 10 States for LEED list every year since 2011. The 
U.S. Green Buildings Council community has long shown leadership on 
refrigerants, with key studies issued in the early 2000s probing the 
balance between ozone layer and global warming.
  In fact, since 2010, 63 percent of LEED-certified projects have 
achieved the enhanced refrigerant management credit, which is intended 
reduce ozone depletion and support early compliance with the Montreal 
Protocol while minimizing direct contributions to climate change. 
Embracing energy efficiency, including through the use of modern 
refrigerants, across these properties has a tangible impact in their 
home communities.
  The Federal Government given its real estate footprint needs to lead 
by example. Fortunately, there is major new Federal funding included in 
the Inflation Reduction Act for the General Services Administration--
GSA--to do just that, including funding to improve the environmental 
performance of Federal buildings and implement emerging and sustainable 
technologies.
  The next generation of coolant technologies is extremely energy 
efficient. This means the transition to HFC alternatives will generate 
billions of dollars in energy savings for American businesses and 
consumers over the next decade. In total, the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency--EPA--has estimated that the economic benefits from 
implementing the AIM Act alone will be more than $270 billion. Clearly, 
phasing down HFCs in favor of environmentally safer alternatives and 
more energy-efficient cooling technologies benefits the climate and the 
economy.
  Nearly 1 year ago, I returned from my trip to Glasgow, Scotland, for 
COP26, the 2021 United Nations--UN--Climate Change Conference, where 
the need for concerted action at every level--State and local, 
national, and international, and nongovernmental--was undeniable.
  I was privileged to have 18 Senate colleagues join me to bolster 
President Biden's agenda and the U.S. leadership role on the world 
stage. The Glasgow Climate Pact established a clear consensus that all 
nations need to do much more, immediately, to prevent a catastrophic 
rise in global temperatures. Thursday's Senate action by a comfortable 
margin of 69-27 is a signal to the world that together we can protect 
our economic interests and improve quality of life. While our work to 
combat the climate crisis is hardly complete, we can build on the 
momentum generated by this hopeful, strategic victory.
  I will conclude by applauding my colleagues for their actions in 
support of adoption of the Kigali Amendment, and for our years' long 
efforts along the path to this historic moment.

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