Global Deal Reached To Phase Out Super Greenhouse Gases

KIGALI, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2016 ) - In a major step toward curbing global warming, world envoys reached an agreement Saturday to phase out potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners.

Under the amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on protecting the ozone layer, rich countries are to take action sooner than developing nations. The agreement was greeted by applause from exhausted envoys who had worked through the night in the Rwandan capital Kigali to put the final touches on the deal to phase out production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

"Last year in Paris, we promised to keep the world safe from the worst effects of climate change.

Today, we are following through on that promise," said UN Environment Programme chief Erik Solheim.

The US Environmental Protection Agency said, "this day will unquestionably be remembered as one of the most important in our effort to save the one planet we have". But some representatives voiced regret that countries such as India and Gulf nations would begin the transition later than others.

"It may not be entirely what the islands wanted, but it is a good agreement," said a representative of the tiny Pacific nation of the Marshall Islands, Mattlan Zackhras.