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Add to Preferred SourcesDelegates representing 171 parties to the Montreal Protocol concluded their 31st Meeting of the Parties in Rome, Italy, last week, agreeing to a number of key decisions, including actions to discover and prevent any illegal production or consumption of controlled, ozone-depleting substances, including CFC-11.
At the meeting, an update from the Scientific Assessment Panel (SAP) highlighted new preliminary data showing reductions in emissions of trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) in 2018 and 2019. The issue of unexpected emissions of CFC-11 was brought to the attention of the parties in 2018, revealing that global emissions of CFC-11 had increased in the period after 2012.
The parties also agreed on the terms of reference for a study to be carried out by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel on the 2021-2023 replenishment of the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.
In addition, the three Assessment Panels to the Montreal Protocol were requested to prepare quadrennial assessment reports – assessing the state of the ozone layer, the interactions between ozone and climate, the effects of changes in the ozone layer to human health and ecosystems, as well as alternative technologies to the controlled substances – to be submitted by the end of 2022 for consideration by the parties.
Other issues included the laboratory and analytical uses of ozone-depleting substances, with parties agreeing to extend the global exemption beyond 2021 with monitoring. Critical-use exemptions were granted to a few parties that requested to continue using small amounts of methyl bromide in agriculture.
Parties also memorialized that 88 parties have ratified the Kigali Amendment, which came into force on 1 January 2019. The Amendment is expected to avoid 0.4°C of future global warming by the end of the century by cutting hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) by more than 80 percent over the next 30 years.
The synergies between the Montreal Protocol, the Kigali Amendment and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were further underlined by the high-level roundtable discussion on the contribution of the Montreal Protocol to the development of sustainable cold chains and the reduction of food loss. The same issue was underscored in the Rome Declaration. Signed by 76 parties to date, the Declaration recognizes the importance of the Protocol and its Kigali Amendment in raising awareness for developing sustainable and efficient solutions in the cold chain.
Original source: UN Environment
Published on 13 November 2019