An agreement was set to be signed in Kigali on Friday by more than 200 countries on cutting greenhouse gases but it was expected to fall short of the urgency needed to help combat climate change.

Some countries, led by the US, wanted an ambitious phase-out by 2021 but developing countries reliant on industries that make refrigerants wanted it delayed to at least 2026.

“The agreement is a historical one and this is the closest ever we have been to agreeing on a common cause for our planet. The negotiations in Kigali have been straightforward on what we need to do,” said Erik Solheim, the Executive Director of United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

In Kigali, US Secretary of State John Kerry met delegations from China, India and Pakistan separately in closed door meetings. The three countries, while supportive of a phase-out around 2022 as pushed by the US and EU, wanted there to be no timelines for developing countries to comply.

Representatives from over 200 countries met in Kigali to agree on phasing out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which have become popular substitutes for ozone-depleting substances, but — while they are far better for the ozone layer — are also potent greenhouse gases, which means they contribute to global climate change.

The US was pushing for an ambitious HFC amendment which could forestall up to half a degree Celsius of warming by the end of this century.

While China made some commitments, India remained with some reservations, saying that developing nations need to be given an extension of up to 2024-2026 to phase out HFCs.

India, which earlier sought 2031 as the freeze year, has lowered it by four years to 2026 as opposed to 2019 and 2022 proposed by Ambitious Amendment Group.

“This is based on reciprocal flexibility to be shown by the other countries, particularly the developed countries in so far as meeting the cost of the transition is concerned,” said Ajay Narayan Jha, Secretary at India’s Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

India maintained that an agreement ought to take on board what its delegation termed “uniqueness” and the “concerns” of all nations.

Citing the huge dependence of the country’s key development programmes and industries on the refrigeration and air-conditioning technologies, India is seeking ample time to switch from HFCs in the wake of concerns over viability, commercial availability and affordability of alternatives.

India suggested the baseline for HFC production and consumption should be the average of 2020-2028 with no freeze date for the developing countries like itself, while the other parties in the Ambitious Amendment Group leaned forwards 2020-2024 as the freeze date.

Countries like the Republic of the Marshall Islands, European Union nations, the US and other Friends of an Ambitious Amendment warn that further delaying the phasedown will have a devastating environmental cost.

“We are sure that we are going to have an amendment by the end of the day but it could not be as ambitious,” said Obed Baloyi a South African delegate negotiating on the Africa Group, told The EastAfrican.