Abstract
The Senate voted 69–27 on Sept. 21 to allow the US to join an international treaty to curb the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The chemicals are industrial gases used in a slew of applications, including as refrigerants in air conditioners and freezers. They are potent greenhouse gases. In late 2020, Congress passed a law authorizing the federal government to meet the terms of the pact , the 2016 Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol. Using that law, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a regulation last year to reduce allowable US production and use of HFCs to 15% of 2011–13 average levels by 2036. Such reduction will meet the terms of the Kigali amendment. But because the Senate had not ratified the Kigali deal, the US could not participate as a full treaty partner in international talks related to it. Almost a year ago, President Joe Biden asked the
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