Tensions over a class of common refrigerants have increased this week in Cancun, thanks to pressure from activist groups and a recent European Commission proposal to ban hydrofluorocarbon-23 emissions from its domestic offset market beginning in 2013.

Those offsets – funneled through the Clean Development Mechanism – are highly profitable for countries like China and India, just as they are relatively cheap and easy for European companies that can’t meet their obligations at home and instead must purchase greenhouse gas reductions abroad. That sounds like a nice arrangement but for the fact that the carbon market pays far in excess of the actual costs of destroying HFC-23, which is more valuable as a waste by-product than the actual refrigerant that factories are selling. And that means less money for other projects that could reduce emissions.

That is in part why, beginning in 2013, the European Commission wants to end the practice for HFC-23 as well as for nitrous oxide emitted during the production of adipic acid, which is used in nylon and various plastics. China argues that the European Proposal is misguided and has now threatened to vent its HFC emissions if the CDM credits dry up. The Washington-based Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (IGSD) reports that India isn’t happy either. The CDM Executive Board – which sets CDM policy and has been investigating the issue as well – has taken a softer stance than the European Commission, thus attracting the ire of CDM Watch, which is based in Bonn and represents a consortium of activist groups.

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One solution would be to tackle HFCs under the Montreal Protocol, which has a long history of controlling such chemicals at more realistic costs in the name of protecting the ozone layer (for some background on all of this, check our earlier coverage here and here). Montreal delegates elected to hold off on a decision last month due to opposition from countries such as China and India, although many predicted that pressure from Europe will eventually bring both countries around by convincing them that they are no longer going to make money through the CDM.

The issue isn’t going to be resolved one way or another in Cancun, but advocates are hoping that the climate negotiators will adopt language that essentially gives the green light for ozone negotiators to move forward with HFC regulations under the Montreal Protocol. In Europe, the commission’s proposal now goes to the parliament.

As it happens, HFCs are just one of a handful of items on a fast-action agenda being pushed by groups like IGSD. While much of the angst is over carbon dioxide, this represents an everything-else-too strategy that stresses getting the most short-term bang for your buck. The focus tends to be on things like black carbon and more-powerful greenhouse gases such as HFCs and methane.

From this perspective, while carbon dioxide is the dial that controls long-term temperature trends, these other actors can have a substantial impact on today’s climate. Consequently, reducing them can buy a little breathing room as the world gears up for the more difficult task of reducing the ubiquitous CO2 emissions.