On the recordSeptember 22, 2022
Madam President, today I rise to celebrate the Senate's ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocols to phase down the use of hydrofluorocarbons, also known as HFCs. Not only did this critical amendment receive resounding bipartisan support, it also marked our Nation's participation in the most significant climate treaty in 30 years. Across the country, there have been alarming examples of extreme weather. Parts of California are blanketed in black smoke from wildfires, many Kentuckians are still without homes as a result of flooding in July, and Hurricane Fiona left millions of Puerto Ricans without power. And around the world, we have seen a devastating drought in East Africa, Greenland's ice sheet's largest September melt event on record, and flooding in Pakistan that left a third of the country underwater. It is clear that climate change isn't something that's happening 100 years in the future, it's happening now. That is why our ratification of the Kigali Amendment is so critical. HFCs are particularly potent greenhouse gasses, disproportionately responsible for rising temperatures that are linked to catastrophic weather events. By joining the effort to reduce global HFC consumption and production by 80 percent by 2047, we can help prevent 0.5 degrees C of warming by the end of this century.…





