China's mitigation strategy design under its 2035 nationally determined contribution calls for updated inventories of halogenated gases, given their current incomplete and outdated coverage. This study established a comprehensive emission and bank inventory regarding China's halogenated gas consumption and export during 1980–2024, covering 30 substances and 23 sub-sectors. Halogenated gas emissions pose triple environment impacts: stratospheric ozone depletion, climate change, and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) accumulation. In 2024, China's territorial and exported halogenated gas emissions increased apace to over 800 kt, with ozone depletion potential (ODP)-weighted emissions decreasing to below 15 kt CFC-11-eq and 100-year global warming potential (GWP 100 )-weighted emissions growing to approximately 2 Gt CO 2 -eq. These trends highlight a shift in environmental impacts from ozone depletion to stronger climate forcing. Sector-specific bank management measures are needed to avoid massive emissions from banked halogenated gases (19 ± 3 Gt CO 2 -eq by 2024). Furthermore, persistent degradation product TFA, originating from halogenated gases (notably low-GWP alternatives such as hydrofluoroolefins), accumulated to over 200 kt by 2024, underscoring the importance of integrating chemical risk governance into climate mitigation strategies.
Bai et al. (Wed,) studied this question.