The Obama administration on Tuesday said it has reached a deal with major American companies such as Pepsi, Kroger, Honeywell and others to help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, part of the president’s larger effort to fight climate change.
The White House announced nearly two dozen private-sector commitments to reduce emissions of hydroflourocarbons, a greenhouse gas. If the commitments are carried out, the administration says they will reduce greenhouse gases by 1.5 percent from 2010 levels, the equivalent of removing about 15 million vehicles from U.S. highways.
The administration already has used the power of the federal government to increase auto fuel efficiency standards, crack down on carbon emissions from power plants and take other steps to roll back the effects of global warming. Tuesday’s announcement represents another key piece of President Obama’s strategy — convincing private businesses to voluntarily join in the government’s effort to combat climate change.
Specifically, the administration says U.S. companies will play a crucial role in reducing hydroflourocarbons (HFCs).
“When the President launched his Climate Action Plan last year, he pledged to leverage new opportunities to reduce HFCs. U.S. industry is leading the way in helping fulfill that pledge by investing millions of dollars to develop and deploy the next generation of safer HFC alternatives, and by incorporating climate-friendly technologies into the cars, air conditioners, refrigerators, foams and other products they manufacture and use,” the White House said in a statement announcing the deals.
PepsiCo, for example, pledged that all of its coolers, vending machines and soda fountain dispensers will be HFC free by 2010. Energy drink leader Red Bull said it will order about 32,000 climate-friendly hydrocarbon coolers next year.
Retail giant Target already has opened two new cold storage facilities, each of which use refrigerants free from HFCs
The White House also said the president has directed federal departments and agencies to begin the formal process of reviewing their own procedures in an effort to use fewer HFCs.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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