PEARL RIVER, NY – October 6, 2016 – Hudson Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: HDSN) today announced its support for the adoption of an amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, that would provide for the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbon (HFCs) refrigerants. The proposed amendment will be voted on at the annual meeting of the members of the Montreal Protocol, to be held this month in Kigali, Rwanda.
Hudson was one of more than 500 national and international companies and organizations to sign a statement issued by the White House at the United Nations General Assembly on September 22, 2016 calling on world leaders to adopt the new HFC amendment. A phase-down of virgin HFC production, supported by the use of reclaimed refrigerants, will avoid releasing the equivalent of 100 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and will prevent more than 0.5°C of warming by 2050, according to an October 2015 report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Kevin J. Zugibe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hudson Technologies commented, “As a leading reclaimer, Hudson has been an early and long term supporter of an orderly phase out of refrigerants with high global warming potential. The best way to accomplish the goal of reducing emissions of these high global warming gases is to limit production of virgin refrigerant and establish policies that promote, encourage and provide the right incentives to manage, preserve, reclaim and reuse refrigerant that is already in the installed base.
Mr. Zugibe continued, “Hudson met with a number of Article 5 countries at the Montreal Protocol meetings in Vienna this past July, to discuss how a strong refrigerant reclamation program can be a tool to facilitate and accelerate the phasedown of HFCs. Every pound of reclaimed refrigerant that is reused in equipment eliminates the need to produce a pound of virgin refrigerant. Reclamation provides an opportunity to achieve dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions almost immediately without having to make immediate investments in new equipment and technology. As a leading provider of reclaimed refrigerants with significant infrastructure and capacity, we believe we can play a critical role in the orderly and global phase out of these gases and in the evolution to more environmentally friendly refrigerants.”