Editing Montreal Protocol (section)

=== Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) ===

On 1 January 2019, the [[Kigali Amendment]] to the Montreal Protocol came into force.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ozone.unep.org/ozone-timeline|website=ozone.unep.org|access-date=2020-04-22|title=Ozone Timeline &#124; Ozone Secretariat }}</ref> Under the Kigali Amendment countries promised to reduce the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by more than 80% over the next 30 years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001308090/kigali-amendment-heralds-new-dawn-for-climate-change-action|title=Kigali Amendment heralds new dawn for climate change action|last=Msuya|first=Joyce|website=The Standard|language=en|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref> By 27 December 2018, 65 countries had ratified the Amendment.<ref name="standardmedia_Msuya_20190102">{{Cite web| last = Msuya| first = Joyce | title = Kigali Amendment heralds new dawn for climate change action| work = The Standard| access-date=2 January 2019| url = https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001308090/kigali-amendment-heralds-new-dawn-for-climate-change-action |date=2 January 2019}}</ref> {{As of|2024|October|31}}, 160 states<ref name="UNTC">{{cite web |title=Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer |url=https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=XXVII-2-f&chapter=27 |access-date=October 31, 2024 |website=United Nations Treaty Collective}}</ref> and the [[European Union]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 14, 2020 |title=Kigali Amendment hits milestone 100th ratification, boosting climate action |url=http://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/kigali-amendment-hits-milestone-100th-ratification-boosting-climate |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221103062228/http://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/kigali-amendment-hits-milestone-100th-ratification-boosting-climate |archive-date=November 3, 2022 |access-date=September 20, 2022 |website=[[United Nations Environment Programme]]}}</ref> have ratified the Amendment.

Produced mostly in developed countries, [[Organofluorine chemistry#Hydrofluorocarbons|hydrofluorocarbons]] (HFCs) replaced CFCs and HCFCs. HFCs pose no harm to the ozone layer because, unlike CFCs and HCFCs, they do not contain chlorine. They are, however, greenhouse gases, with a high global warming potential (GWP), comparable to that of CFCs and HCFCs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/climate-irrationality |title=Climate of irrationality |publisher=Down To Earth |date=18 September 2012 |access-date=28 September 2012 |archive-date=1 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001022841/http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/climate-irrationality |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/air-pollution/issues/ozone-layer/depletion-impacts/substances.html#fn2|title=Ozone-depleting substances|last=Canada|first=Environment and Climate Change|date=2008-12-02|website=aem|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref> In 2009, a study calculated that a fast phasedown of high-GWP HFCs could potentially prevent the equivalent of up to 8.8 Gt {{CO2}}-eq per year in emissions by 2050.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Velders GJ, Fahey DW, Daniel JS, McFarland M, Andersen SO | title = The large contribution of projected HFC emissions to future climate forcing | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 106 | issue = 27 | pages = 10949–54 | date = July 2009 | pmid = 19549868 | pmc = 2700150 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0902817106 | bibcode = 2009PNAS..10610949V | doi-access = free }}</ref> A proposed phasedown of HFCs was hence projected to avoid up to 0.5C of warming by 2100 under the high-HFC growth scenario, and up to 0.35C under the low-HFC growth scenario.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260830030|title=The role of HFCs in mitigating 21st century climate change|last1=Xu|first1=Yangyang|last2=Zaelke|first2=Durwood|last3=Velders|first3=Guus J. M.|last4=Ramanathan|first4=V|journal=Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics |date=2013-06-01|volume=13|issue=12 |page=6083 |doi=10.5194/acp-13-6083-2013 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2013ACP....13.6083X }}</ref> Recognizing the opportunity presented for fast and effective phasing down of HFCs through the Montreal Protocol, starting in 2009 the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] proposed an amendment to phase down high-GWP HFCs,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ozone.unep.org/Meeting_Documents/oewg/29oewg/OEWG-29-8E.pdf|title=Proposed amendment to the Montreal Protocol|date=4 May 2009|website=United Nations Environment Programme|access-date=17 May 2018}}</ref> with the U.S., Canada, and Mexico following with a similar proposal in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ozone.unep.org/Meeting_Documents/mop/22mop/MOP-22-5E.pdf|title=Proposed amendment to the Montreal Protocol|website=United Nations Environment Programme|date=30 July 2010|access-date=17 May 2018}}</ref>

After seven years of negotiations, in October 2016 at the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in [[Kigali]], the Parties to the Montreal Protocol adopted the Kigali Amendment whereby the Parties agreed to phase down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://conf.montreal-protocol.org/meeting/mop/mop-28/final-report/English/MOP-28-12E.pdf|title=Report of the Twenty-Eighth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer|date=October 2016|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-date=26 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126012702/http://conf.montreal-protocol.org/meeting/mop/mop-28/final-report/English/MOP-28-12E.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The amendment to the Montreal Protocol commits the signatory parties to reduce  their HFC production and consumption by at least 85 per cent from the annual average value in the period from 2011 to 2013. A group of developing countries including China, Brazil and South Africa are mandated to reduce their HFC use by 85 per cent of their average value in 2020-22 by the year 2045. India and some other developing countries – Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and some oil economies like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – will cut down their HFCs by 85 per cent of their values in 2024-26 by the year 2047.

On 17 November 2017, ahead of the 29th Meeting of the Parties of the Montreal Protocol, Sweden became the 20th Party to ratify the Kigali Amendment, pushing the Amendment over its ratification threshold ensuring that the Amendment would enter into force 1 January 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/montreal-protocol-celebrates-another-milestone-agreement-reduce|title=Montreal Protocol celebrates another milestone as agreement to reduce climate-warming gases is set to enter into force in 2019|work=UN Environment|access-date=2018-01-25|language=en}}</ref>