Highlights and images for 15 July 2022

Parties need technical advice and financing to meet their Kigali Amendment commitment to phase down hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) use. On Friday, they made welcome progress towards finalizing the terms of reference to study funding needs; and agreed to undertake intersessional work on plans to restructure the Protocol’s technical advisory bodies: the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) and its Technical Options Committees (TOCs). Both moves will help ensure that parties get the support they need.

Reporting back to plenary on their work, the contact group on carbon tetrachloride (CTCs) described progress in discussing the issues of terminology, information availability and the timing of the TEAP quadrennial assessment. They requested further time for the group to address the EU proposal on identifying sources of emissions originating from industrial processes.

On energy efficiency and anti-dumping measures, the contact group reported that a “thought starter” list on energy efficiency has been developed, and reconvened in the afternoon to discuss the African Group’s proposal on anti-dumping measures.

On strengthening the TEAP and TOCs, the contact group reported sentiments that it is “too early” for a restructuring, and noted concerns about whether a restructuring could mean the same experts would need to work across two different TOCs.

The morning plenary also took up discussion of the EU’s revised proposal on methyl bromide stocks, contained in their conference room paper (CRP). The EU noted that parties’ concerns about costs have been addressed through narrowing the focus of the CRP so that parties “don’t need to undertake huge efforts to collect such data.” He proposed that information on alternatives could be provided in liaison with the International Plant Protection Convention. Co-Chair Osvaldo Perez established an informal group, which will take up the revised CRP on Saturday, the last day of the meeting.

Contact groups and informal and bilateral discussions took place through the day, with delegates racing to complete negotiations ahead of the meeting’s last day tomorrow. On current replenishment needs, delegates continued consultations among Article 5 and non-Article 5 countries separately, and proceeded to closed discussions in the afternoon. The informal group on Montreal Protocol institutional processes also convened.

In the afternoon, the contact group on energy efficiency and the African Group’s proposal on anti-dumping convened, followed by the contact group on the terms of reference for a study of replenishment needs. In the early evening, the contact group on replenishment continued its discussion of the replenishment of the Multilateral Fund.