WASHINGTON (Sept. 20, 2022) — Today the Partnership for Public Service announced it had awarded the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal in Science, Environment, and Technology to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Cindy Newberg. Newberg, Director of the Stratospheric Protection Division in the Office of Atmospheric Programs, received the honor for her work to help curb the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), incredibly potent greenhouse gases that are major contributors to climate change.
“We are so proud of Cindy for winning the 2022 Samuel J. Heyman Medal. Cindy worked to build a coalition of industry leaders, environmental groups, and countries from across the world to commit to a global, unified phasedown of HFCs, protecting people and the planet,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “With an unwavering dedication to reduce HFC emissions, both at home and abroad, Cindy has proven to be the epitome of public service and inspires all of us at EPA.”
The Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal, or the Sammies, are a highly respected honor given annually by the Partnership for Public Service after a rigorous selection process. Newberg was recognized for over a dozen years of work to address the production and import of HFCs both internationally and in the United States. These chemicals have commonly been used in refrigeration and air conditioning, aerosols, and foam manufacturing. Because one kilogram of HFCs can pack a climate punch hundreds to thousands of times stronger than the same amount of carbon dioxide, phasing down their use can benefit the climate enormously.
Newberg played a key role in brokering the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, providing technical advice and analysis at negotiation sessions around the world. The Kigali Amendment, an international agreement reached in 2016, phases down the production and consumption of HFCs globally by 80 – 85% by 2047. It is expected that this will prevent up to half a degree Celsius of warming by the end of this century, a critical step towards meeting the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below 2°C and avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.
More recently, Newberg has been leading her team at EPA to implement the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act that will phase down HFCs in the United States. In the nine short months after the AIM Act took effect, her division at EPA established the HFC Allocation Program, a cap and phasedown program for HFC production and consumption, that began this year. The HFC Phasedown is expected to result in total emissions reductions from 2022 to 2050 equivalent to 4.6 billion metric tons of CO2 – nearly equal to three years of U.S. power sector emissions at 2019 levels.