Montreal Protocol Kigali Amendment

The Montreal Protocol is considered the most successful international treaty. It was adopted in 1987 and has 197 members – far the most being countries, but e.g. also the EU. The Protocol has developed from being a contract for limiting and slightly reducing emissions of ozone depleting substances to much more. Today, it is about phasing out these substances.

The Amendment decided in October 2016 in Kigali, Ruanda, extends the Montreal Protocol significantly to rules for reduction of emissions of fluorinated greenhouse gases. It uses a phase-down scenario looking similar to that of the EU F-Gas Regulation, but with adjusted steps for different groups of members, and introduces a timeline up to at least the year 2050, see also the following figures.

Phase-down steps in % for fluorinated greenhouse gases of the Montreal Protocol for the 4 groups of countries, MP, MP*, A5 Group 1 and A5 Group 2.
Phase-down steps in % for fluorinated greenhouse gases of the Montreal Protocol for the 4 groups of countries, MP, MP*, A5 Group 1 and A5 Group 2.

In the Montreal Protocol measures are decided with a time schedule for the normal members and a delayed time schedule for the member states listed in Article 5. The latter were considered not fully industrialised when the Protocol was decided in 1987. In this Amendment, there is a special schedule for member states of the former USSR with a slight delay at the first step (MP*), then following the standard schedule of the normal members. The subgroup of the extra listed Article 5 members with typically very high ambient temperatures were granted an extra delay after the other Article 5 members, as only few new technologies or refrigerants have proven their performance for very high ambient temperatures.

So far, more than 120 members have ratified the Amendment. Every member will determine the 100% level in the defined years and establish a set of rules and measures to follow the individually matching scenario. The Multilateral Fund Secretariat coordinates and observes the measures of the Montreal Protocol. With this Amendment, similar refrigerant transitions like in the EU will be done worldwide.

Sources:

Decision XXVIII/2: Decision related to the amendment phasing down hydrofluorocarbons | Ozone Secretariat (unep.org)

Annex I: Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer | Ozone Secretariat (unep.org)