Barely days ahead of a UNEP summit in Rwanda in which 190 countries will discuss ways to protect the rapidly thinning ozone layer, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Tuesday noted with concern the damage that carbon emissions are causing by inducing global warming.

The spiritual leader, who is also an active environmentalist, was, however, confident that “if we really make the effort, change can be achieved”.

During a discourse here to a group of Taiwanese on the pleasures of life, the Buddhist monk cited the example of the damage to the ozone layer and the effective steps taken to reverse it.

“If we make efforts to reduce carbon emissions, to curtail our use of fossil fuels, switching instead to clean sources of energy, such as solar and wind power generation, it will offset and repair the damage already done,” the Nobel Peace Laureate said.

Top of the agenda for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) summit in Rwandan capital Kigali, from October 10 to 14, is a major amendment on phasing out of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in refrigeration and air-conditioning which will ultimately help in avoiding up to 0.5 degree Celsius in global temperate rise.

HFCs are 10,000 times more potent in trapping heat in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide, say studies.