NEW YORK — India has submitted an amendment proposal to the Montreal Protocol that proposes a plan for phasing down production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). In industrial countries, production and consumption of HFCs should reach 15 percent of their 2013-2015 reference levels by 2035, stated the proposal. Developing countries would have until 2050 to reach the 15 percent level of their 2028-2030 use and consumption reference levels.
In addition to India’s proposal, proposals by Micronesia and North America (the U.S., Canada, and Mexico) will be discussed at this year’s Montreal Protocol open-ended working group meetings, leading up to a full Meeting of the Parties of the Montreal Protocol in November in Dubai. The proposals vary based on a number of factors, including what greenhouse gases should be targeted for reductions, which years’ emissions should be used as a baseline starting point for reductions, funding assistance and technology sharing between more developed and less developed countries, and the final percentage emission reduction goals to be targeted.
India and China had long been holdouts on supporting an HFC phaseout plan. However, in June 2013, the U.S. and China agreed to multilateral approaches to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs. These approaches include using the Montreal Protocol to define the phasedown, while continuing to include HFCs within the scope of U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol provisions for accounting and reporting of emissions. India’s proposal also calls for HFCs to continue to be reported and accounted for under the UNFCCC, and stipulates that developing countries be given international financing and technical support, including — unlike the other proposals — coverage of full conversion costs of switching from HFCs to refrigerants with low or zero global-warming potential (GWP).
Publication date: 5/4/2015
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