Agreement with China seen as significant step
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A small but significant step toward mitigating climate change came last weekend, when President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to establish limits on the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. The chemicals are among the worst greenhouse gases — more damaging, according to experts, than carbon dioxide.
The New York Times quoted Prof. Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development, as saying the agreement "will provide the single biggest, fastest, cheapest, and most secure piece of climate mitigation available to the world through 2020."
China's developing economy is considered one of the toughest problems in combating climate change. The use of private cars is spreading quickly there, and the country still relies heavily and increasingly on coal-fired power plants.
Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner joins Kerri to talk about the agreement and its significance.
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