U.S. chemical companies including Honeywell and Chemours Co are ramping up efforts to produce alternative coolants used in air-conditioners and refrigerators, following a global pact to reduce planet-warming greenhouse house gas emissions.

On Saturday, some 150 nations struck a global agreement in Kigali, Rwanda, on ways to phase down hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases, which are currently used in air-cooling systems and refrigerators, and help curb the release of climate-warming emissions.

The accord is an amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which was aimed at stopping the depletion of the ozone layer. As part of a larger goal to globally reduce HFCs by 80 percent by 2047, signatories such as U.S., India and China have agreed to phase out the pollutants from cooling appliances starting 2019.

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