Sea Technology

OCT 2017

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40 st / October 2017 www.sea-technology.com Ozone Protection Treaty Lowers US GHG Emissions The Montreal Protocol, the interna- tional treaty adopted to restore Earth's protective ozone layer in 1989, has sig- nificantly reduced emissions of ozone- depleting chemicals from the U.S. In a twist, a new study shows the 30-year old treaty has had a major side benefit of reducing climate-altering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the U.S. That's because the ozone- depleting substances controlled by the treaty are also potent greenhouse gases, with heat-trapping abilities up to 10,000 times greater than carbon diox- ide over 100 years. The new study is the first to quantify the impact of the Montreal Protocol on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions with atmospheric observations. The study's results show that reducing the use of ozone-depleting substances from 2008 to 2014 eliminated the equivalent of 170 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. That's roughly the equivalent of 50 percent of the reduc- tions achieved by the U.S. for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases over the same period. By 2025, the effect of the Mon- treal Protocol is predicted to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 500 million tons of car- bon dioxide per year compared with 2005 levels; about 10 percent of cur- rent U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide. Reaction to Trump's Withdrawal from Paris The United States Climate Alliance is a bipartisan group of U.S. states that have pledged to uphold the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change within their borders. The goal is to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025 and to meet or exceed the targets of the U.S. Clean Power Plan (a 32 percent reduction of CO 2 emissions by 2030), even if the plan is abandoned by the Trump Administration. These actions would help fulfill the global commu- nity's goal, as set forth in the Paris Cli- mate Agreement, to keep global warm- ing below 2° C. The alliance provides a forum for its members to further develop and strengthen their existing climate action plans through the sharing of informa- tion and best practices. The alliance was formed June 2017, by the governors of Washington, New York and California, in response to the announcement by U.S. President Don- ald Trump that he had decided to with- draw the U.S. from the Paris Agree- ment. Those three governors each hold the position of co-chair of the alliance. The governors of Connecticut, Mas- sachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Oregon, Hawaii, Virginia, Minnesota, Delaware, Puerto Rico and Colorado also joined the alliance. In addition to the alliance, several city/county-led and private sector ef- forts are underway to address the goals of the Paris Agreement. Report on Jersey in UK Predicts Rising Sea Level The U.K. National Oceanography Centre was commissioned by Jersey to undertake a coastal conditions cli- mate review to inform policy decisions environmental monitoring

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