Kigali Amendment

The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol is an international agreement to gradually reduce the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). These gases were used to replace ozone-depleting substances, and have zero impact on the ozone layer. They are powerful greenhouse gases, so this amendment makes Montreal Protocol a stronger tool against climate change.[1]

Kigali Accord
TypeEnvironmental protection agreement
ContextMontreal Protocol (1985)
SignedOctober 15, 2016 (2016-10-15)
LocationKigali, Rwanda
EffectiveJanuary 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Parties113

The amendment was agreed upon at the twenty-eighth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol held on October 15, 2016, in Kigali. In decision XXVIII / 1, they adopted an amendment to the Protocol (the Kigali Amendment).[2] The Kigali Amendment is a legally binding international agreement[2] designed to create rights and obligations in international law. The Amendment is only legally binding on a Party if it has entered into force with respect to that Party.

As of 15 January 2021, 112 states and the European Union have ratified the Kigali Amendment.[3]

Context

Many industrial products, including heat pumps that operate on a refrigerant and propellant aerosols, require non-flammable fluids capable of passing easily from gaseous state to liquid state and having significant latent heat.

Historically, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were used in these applications, but we discovered in the 1970s the deleterious effect of these gases on the ozone layer, which was rewarded by a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995.[4] The Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987 by many states and entered into force in 1989, decided to phase out CFCs. The use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) then developed as a replacement.

However, if these gases save the ozone layer, they are powerful greenhouse gases. Their lifespan in the atmosphere is quite short, but they filter infrared very strongly: for example, HFC-23 has a global warming potential (PRG) at 100 years 12400, compared to 1 for CO
2.[5] Eliminating emissions of these gases could therefore significantly limit global warming and may avoid half a degree centigrade of warming by the end of the century, according to one study.[6]

Content of the agreement

The Montreal Protocol creates a separate regime for developing countries.[7]

The Kigali Accord, on the other hand, divides states into 4 groups:[8]

  1. Parties "Article 5 - Group 1"
  2. Parties "Article 5 - Group 2": Bahrain, India, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
  3. Parties

References
  1. "The Montreal Protocol evolves to fight climate change | UNIDO". www.unido.org. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  2. United Nations Environment Program, Montreal Protocol Secretariat (February 2017). "Ratification of the Kigali Amendment , information note" (PDF). Retrieved April 12, 2019. The Amendment is only legally binding on a Party if it has entered into force with respect to that -ci
  3. "United Nations Treaty Collection". treaties.un.org. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  4. "Press Release: The 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry". Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  5. "ADEME - Site Bilans GES". bilans-ges.ademe.fr. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  6. Velders GJ, Fahey DW, Daniel JS, McFarland M, Andersen SO (July 2009). "The large contribution of projected HFC emissions to future climate forcing". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 106 (27): 10949–54. doi:10.1073/pnas.0902817106. PMC 2700150. PMID 19549868.
  7. Montreal Protocol, Article 5
  8. "Resumed 38th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG 38) of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol". IISD Reporting Services. International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).
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