Delegates hit the ground running on Monday. Participants exchanged views on many substantive issues, building on the work they carried out at the July meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG 44).
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Parties opened and swiftly concluded discussion of future availability of halons and their alternatives. Several of the other items considered related to work by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) and its Technical Options Committees (TOCs). This included an in-depth discussion of recommendations by the Methyl Bromide TOC (MBTOC) regarding nominations from three parties, South Africa, Canada, and Australia, for critical-use exemptions for methyl bromide for 2023 and 2024. The issue will be the focus of continued discussions in plenary later in the week.
On its first day, MOP 34 established six contact groups, including on:
- energy efficiency;
- identification of gaps in global atmospheric monitoring and emissions of carbon tetrachloride;
- strengthening Montreal Protocol institutions;
- the terms of reference for a study on replenishment of the Multilateral Fund;
- methyl bromide stocks and quarantine and pre-shipment uses; and
- strengthening the TEAP and TOCs for the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
During the lunch break, delegates gathered for the launch of a new book celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol. Protecting the Ozone Layer was written by Montreal Protocol veterans Stephen O. Andersen, former Co-Chair of the TEAP, and Marco Gonzalez, former Executive Secretary of the Ozone Secretariat, and edited by former TEAP member and Foam Technical Options Committee Co-Chair Sally Rand. It tells the story of the “inspired treaty design” underpinning the Montreal Protocol’s successes and aims to inspire “new ambition” to protect both the ozone layer and the climate.
By the time MOP 34 suspended its work in plenary on Monday evening, the Co-Chairs noted happily that the meeting was running ahead of schedule. The contact group on energy efficiency met in the evening, and the contact group on institutional processes was scheduled to meet on Tuesday morning before the start of plenary.
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All ENB photos are free to use with attribution. For the 34th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, please use: Photo by IISD/ENB | Matthew TenBruggencate.
Selected Images
A view of the dais
Delegates connect on the lunch break.
Delegates confer in the hallways after plenary.
Natasha F. Nakasone, Federated States of Micronesia
Daniel López Vicuña, Mexico
Leslie Smith, Grenada
Kofi Agyarko, Ghana
Delegates gather for the first in-person MOP since the pandemic.
Marissa Gowrie, Trinidad and Tobago
John Pyle, MP Scientific Assessment Panel, Osvaldo Álvarez-Pérez, OEWG Co-Chair, Paul Newman, Co-Chair of the Scientific Assessment Panel
Osvaldo Álvarez-Pérez and Martin Sirois, OEWG Co-Chairs
Idris Abdullahi Ishaka, Nigeria
Yaqoub Almatouq, Kuwait
Mariska Wouters and Louise McMillan, New Zealand
Reine Marie Coly Badiane, Senegal
Patrick McInerney, Australia
Philip Chemouny, Canada
Marta Pizano and Ian Porter, Co-Chairs, MBTOC, TEAP
Matheus Freitas Rocha Bastos, Brazil
Ole-Kristian Kvissel, Norway
Přemysl Štĕpánek, Czechia
Michel Tschirren, Switzerland
Delegates get a video update on Reset Earth, an immersive animated web series and mobile game aimed at Generation Z.
Cornelius Rhein, EU
Berdi Berdiyev, Turkmenistan
Agnieszka Truszczynska, EU
Andrew Clark, US
Chilean Delegation
Liana Ghahramanyan, Armenia
Laura Berón, Argentina
Eava Nurmi, Finland
Hasan Ali Mubarak, Bahrain
Diego Moschella Vidal and Evelyn Miyagui Henna, Peru
Emilio Yáñez, Chile
Gene Smilansky, Vice-President, Implementation Committee
Interpretation services in full force at MOP 34
Nancy Akerman, US
Miruza Mohamed, Maldives
Maxwell Nkoya, Zambia
Sandeep Bhambra, Ozone Secretariat
Saeed Ahmed Al-Zahrani, Saudi Arabia
Ibrahima Sory Cisse, Guinea
Cindy Newberg, US
Hazem Shabat, State of Palestine
Arno Kaschl, EU
Samuel Paré, Burkina Faso
Delegates embrace their first in-person meetings in years.
Book launch of 35th Montreal Protocol Anniversary: Protecting the Ozone Layer
Sally Rand, Stephen O. Andersen, Megumi Seki, and Marco Gonzalez host the launch of the book 35th Montreal Protocol Anniversary: Protecting the Ozone Layer.
Stephen O. Andersen, Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development
Marco Gonzalez, former Executive Secretary of the Montreal Protocol
Editor Sally Rand, author Stephen O. Andersen and Megumi Seki, Executive Secretary, Ozone Secretariat
Side Event: Economic Growth through Policy Harmonisation
Isobel McFarlane, UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, and Martine Uwera, Rwandan Environment Management Authority
Nihar Shah, Global Cooling Efficiency Program, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Patrick Blake, UNEP
Martine Uwera, Rwandan Environment Management Authority
