Apr 20, 2024 01:05 AM
Levels of a potent greenhouse gas are quietly spiking in the atmosphere and increasingly worrying environmental groups that say its use needs to be reined in if the US is to avoid climate catastrophe.
Furthermore, recent research has found the vast majority of the little-known gas, known as sulfuryl fluoride, is attributable to a state typically known for its climate-forward policies: California.
About 85% of US emissions of sulfuryl fluoride were traced by a recent peer-reviewed study to southern California, where the state’s $4.2bn pest-control industry uses it for drywood termite control. Sulfuryl fluoride is estimated to be up to 7,500 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of its greenhouse-gas potential.
The gas, which is also highly toxic, “has slipped under the radar”, said Johns Hopkins University study co-author Dylan Gaeta, in large part because it only started to be widely used in recent years.
State regulators in 2023 rejected a petition calling for a sulfuryl fluoride phaseout, and Gaeta and others say the findings highlight the need for urgent regulatory action.
“Without some form of intervention, sulfuryl fluoride is going to keep accumulating in our atmosphere,” he added.
