09/22/2022
Democrats and more than a dozen Republicans voted in favor of ratifying the so-called Kigali Amendment during a floor vote on Wednesday afternoon. The treaty was first introduced in 1987 under the United Nations' Montreal Protocol and has since been ratified by 138 international parties including the European Union.
The Kigali Amendment requires signers to reduce usage of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a chemical commonly found in refrigerators and air conditioners, by 85% by 2033. Environmentalists and lawmakers have pushed for HFC reductions, arguing that the chemical is a potent greenhouse gas which contributes to climate change.
However, experts have warned that ratifying the treaty would lead to higher consumer prices for appliances as manufacturers will be forced to replace products that have HFCs with next-generation technologies. The cost of repairing old equipment with HFCs will also increase as supplies become rarer, they said.
"HFCs are the refrigerants needed to run your home air conditioner, your car air conditioner and your refrigerator," Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute specializing in environmental policy, told FOX Business in an interview. "Millions of pieces of air conditioning and refrigeration equipment that you might see in commercial properties or restaurant kitchen or a supermarket or a number of small businesses."
"If any of this equipment leaks and needs to have a recharge of refrigerant, that's going to cost more as supply dwindles and prices rise," he continued. "The new equipment will also be more expensive because it's designed to use one of these HFC-free, eco-friendly refrigerants which tend to cost more."
