The stage is set for a global agreement to be formalised at the Paris 2015 climate meeting to be held at the end of this year.
While no formal agreement was reached to eliminate hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) at a meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Paris late last year, participants believe the tide is turning.
Australian Refrigeration Association (ARA) policy advisor, Brent Hoare, said that under the Alternatives to Ozone Depleting Substances agenda item, a one day extraordinary Meeting of the Parties and a three day workshop on solutions to the HFC problem will take place in April.
This will provide an opportunity to resume the discussion on HFCs prior to the July Open Ended Working Group, and keeps alive the prospect of a deal on HFCs at the November 2015 climate talks.
"While the 26th Montreal Protocol Meeting of the Parties will go down in history as a lost opportunity to achieve rapid action on HFCs, the withdrawal of very significant opposition from many parties may yet come to be recognised as a turning point in the long road to rid the world of HFCs," Hoare said.
Co-chair of the Montreal Protocol Meeting and director of Australia's Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Office, Patrick McInerney, has played a key role in managing disagreements between parties.
"He has exercised great skill in helping the parties move together towards constructive outcomes," Hoare said.
"McInerney deserves the praise he has received for being fair and balanced in handling disagreements."
Another step in the right direction is the US-China agreement which will cut pollutants in the US by 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025 while China will increase its share of non-fossil fuel energy to around 20 per cent.
Director of the Stratospheric Protection Division of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Drusilla Hufford, said federal agencies are aiming to purchase cleaner alternatives to HFCs wherever feasible.
He said a focus on HFC regulation is important because, globally — from 2004 to 2008 — HFC emissions increased about eight per cent per year.
Unchecked, Hufford said emissions could rise to nearly 20 per cent of total carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
Meanwhile, the European F-Gas regulations began on January 1, 2015.