Minister welcomes new deal on global warming

An international deal struck to cut the greenhouse gases used in fridges and air conditioning should mean a 0.5 C drop in global warming by the end of the century.

The move to amend the Montreal Protocol — which agreed the global phasing-out of chemicals that damage the ozone layer — to include climate-harming gases known as hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs, has been hailed by campaigners.

Friends of the Earth Chairwoman, Cara Augustenborg, described it as a “positive step” and the equivalent of “stopping all fossil fuel burning stations for two years”.