Highlights and images for 14 July 2022

Delegates made progress on many substantive issues as they met in contact groups throughout Thursday, continuing the work begun earlier in the week. Parties also resumed consideration of a possible declaration recognizing the work of scientist Mario José Molina, and welcomed suggestions to expand its scope to also recognize the achievements of Paul Jozef Crutzen and Frank Sherwood Rowland.

The day began in plenary with report-backs from contact groups on their discussions so far. Australia reported on progress in the energy efficiency group. She said Ghana provided additional background on the African Group’s proposal and its links to the Basel Convention and explained that the extent of dumping was already overwhelming for customs officers.

Mexico reported back from the replenishment group, saying that they had focused on clarifying the activities to be financed during 2021-23 in order to assess how much funding is needed.

The US reported back from the informal group considering where Montreal Protocol processes could be improved. He noted the group had discussed sharing existing best practices and improving reporting, and observed that any new and additional actions should fall to both Article 5 and non-Article 5 parties. He said actions put forward on addressing illegal trade and production drew on the paper considered by the 63rd meeting of the Implementation Committee, and explained that parties had also noted the Protocol could benefit from developing clear definitions of “illegal” trade and production as guidance for parties.

Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina jointly reported back from the group on restructuring the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP), noting parties differed as to how far the restructuring should go. He reported agreement on TEAP needing to be ready to take forward work under the Kigali Amendment and that energy efficiency is a cross-cutting issue. The group is also looking at how to combine TEAP’s and Morocco’s proposals.

Following initial consideration on Wednesday afternoon, Co-Chair Sirois reopened discussion on the agenda item on a possible Mario Molina declaration, noting that Mexico, the US and the EU are now co-sponsoring a submission with an expanded scope to recognize the great achievements of the three scientists Paul Jozef Crutzen, Mario José Molina and Frank Sherwood Rowland. Many countries supported this proposal. Mexico said that 35 years after the signing of the Montreal Protocol, it is appropriate to recognize the work of these three great scientists who were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1995.

Expressing gratitude for the work of all scientists, Jordan quoted an Arabic poem, “Stand up in honor of your teachers because these people are messengers of the Prophet.”

Other discussions on Thursday addressed an EU proposal to study industrial processes that are potential emission sources of controlled substances. He acknowledged the potential reporting burden on countries, and assured parties they would have “full flexibility” to determine the extent to which they contribute. After some debate, the plenary agreed to take up further discussion of the EU proposal within the contact group already established on carbon tetrachloride (CTC).

In the late morning, Article 5 and non-Article 5 countries met separately for replenishment consultations. For the rest of the day, other contact groups met on: CTC emissions; replenishment for the current triennium; energy efficiency and dumping; and terms of reference for a study of replenishment in the next triennium.