It passed almost unnoticed, but an apparently unexciting business announcement on the very first day of the Cancun climate summit may do more to combat global warming than the following two weeks of talks.
Four hundred big companies, including Tesco, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Kraft, Walmart, Procter & Gamble and L’Oré´al, said they would switch refrigerants in the next five years.
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the chemical coolants, are greenhouse gases and are among a handful of overlooked pollutants whose reduction would reduce global warming far quicker than trying to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the main object of the climate negotiations.
CO2 is only half the problem. Pollutants such as black carbon, ozone, methane and HFCs contribute about the same amount to climate change.
Nonetheless, the battle to cut CO2 is seen as critical and must continue.
