Addressing the Other Half of Warming by Slashing Super Pollutants: Zooming in on Sulfur Hexafluoride

Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF₆) is a synthetic, extremely long-lived greenhouse gas with an atmospheric lifetime of roughly 1,000 years, meaning even small emissions contribute to effectively irreversible on human timescales, making early containment and avoidance particularly important.

Global atmospheric SF₆ are rising, due primarily to use and leakage in electrical transmission and distribution systems, with smaller contributions from semiconductor manufacturing and magnesium casting. While emissions have declined in the United States and European Union, they continue to grow in much of the world, particularly China.

Rapid mitigation is achievable through improved containment, leak-rate targets, and replacement programs in power networks, together with abatement and process substitution in semiconductor and magnesium sectors.

This side event aims to provide better understanding on this super pollutant and its uses, as well as the available alternatives and solutions, to share existing policies and current initiatives aimed at addressing SF6 and to discuss how countries can cooperate at the international level to limit emissions.