Highlights and images for 12 July 2024

The Montreal Protocol’s scientific, technological, and economic assessments have been the pillars guiding the world’s response to threats to the ozone layer. Delegates attending the 46th meeting of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG 46) spent the day concluding their in-depth discussions on draft decisions that will further contribute to strengthening the Protocol and thus protect both the ozone layer and the climate.

In a brief morning plenary, delegates agreed to suspend discussions on the future availability of halons, very short-lived substances, and feedstock uses, and resume negotiations on these issues at the 36th Meeting of the Parties (MOP 36) in late October 2024. They also heard a presentation on an app created by the Ozone Secretariat on Avoided CO2e, which uses data submitted by parties to help them to track their emissions.

Parties engaged in contact group discussions on a draft decision related to atmospheric monitoring, an issue that has been on the agenda for some time. The dearth of monitoring stations to capture emissions data of ozone depleting substances in much of the Global South is a cause for concern for scientists and policymakers alike, creating a critical information gap. At OEWG 46, parties agreed, in principle, to transfer funds from the Montreal Protocol Trust Fund to the Vienna Convention Trust Fund for Research and Systematic Observation for projects to evaluate the suitability of potential sites for monitoring regional emissions of controlled substances. Delegates also sought to clarify the process for identifying appropriate sites, partnerships, in-kind contributions, data-sharing, and reporting.  

In their discussions on alternatives to the MDIs currently available on the market, the contact group agreed to resume discussions on the draft decision at the MOP, basing future discussions on text which, among others, calls to promote continued coordination between national environmental and health authorities to raise awareness of the hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phase down already underway and of the progress in the development of new MDI products using low-global warming potential propellants, recognizing the need to ensure patient access to critical health remedies.

Contact groups also met to conclude initial discussions on:

• strengthening the Montreal Protocol by identifying ways to curb illegal trade;
• alternatives to equipment containing HFCs in countries experiencing extreme heat; and
• unwanted equipment containing or relying on substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol and its Kigali Amendment.

A group of interested delegates also considered how parties can best report on the production, consumption, and destruction of HFCs, engaging in technical discussions pertaining to reporting forms under the Protocol.

During the evening plenary, Grenada and the Federated States of Micronesia introduced a draft decision on strengthening the enabling environments to enhance energy efficiency in the cooling sector while implementing the Kigali Amendment. Delegates agreed to consider this draft at MOP 36.

As the curtains closed on OEWG 46, OEWG 46, OEWG Co-Chair Brieskorn noted that this has been a good and fruitful meeting, and called on parties to use the intersessional period to think of solutions that could be further discussed at the combined thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention (COP 13) and MOP 36. He closed the meeting at 6:31 pm.