2. Ozone Layer

Abstract

The twenty-fourth Meeting of the Parties (MOP-24) of the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol) was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 12–16 November. It marked the twenty-fifth birthday of the Montreal Protocol and was regarded by many participants as an occasion to look back at its many achievements, while at the same time looking forward to the remaining challenges. No new substances were added to the control schedule and no changes were made to it, but a good number of substantive decisions were adopted (the full set of documents relevant for the series of ozone-related meetings during the year 2012 can be accessed at <http://ozone.unep.org/Meeting_Documents>; a full account of the meeting prepared every year by the Earth Negotiation Bulletin is also available at <http://www.iisd.ca/ozone/mop24/>). Important meetings that were held in preparation of the MOP include the customary meetings of the Implementation Committee and the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund and the thirty-second Open-Ended Working Group. The main substantive challenge for the meetings in 2012 was yet again the question whether the protocol should take up a whole class of currently used chemicals— hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs )—a move that may lead the Montreal Protocol into uncharted territory—territory that would be beyond the classical area of ozone layer protection. This discussion continued to run in parallel to a discussion in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The United States, Canada, Mexico, and Micronesia once again tabled amendment proposals to make HFCs a controlled substance, and these proposals were supported by a sizable number of parties. In a long and difficult discussion, opponents of the proposal, such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, argued that HFCs were not ozone-depleting substances (ODS) and thus were outside the Montreal Protocol. Yet again the MOP failed to adopt decisions on any matter related to HFCs, be it action on the HFC amendments as well as HFC-associated items, such as a proposal on the clean production of chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-22) or action to compile voluntarily reported information on ODS transition policy measures. The matter will be reconsidered in 2013.