What: Combined twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (part I) and Thirty-Second Meeting of the Parties
Who: Government officials, experts and other stakeholders from the 198 parties to the Montreal Protocol
When & Where: 23-27 November 2020 - online meeting
Nairobi, 28 November 2020 – Parties attending the combined twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (part I) and Thirty-Second Meeting of the Parties met online focusing on the 2021 budgets, the exemptions for limited use of methyl bromide for agricultural and fumigation purposes by a small number of parties. Due to the pandemic situation preventing in-person meetings, the parties were not in a position to make a decision on the replenishment of the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol for 2021–2023. However, the parties agreed that the unspent budget balance from the current 2018-2020 triennium, could be rolled over for use in 2021, enabling the Fund to continue operating, pending a decision on the 2021-2023 replenishment later in 2021.
The parties also discussed the membership of Montreal Protocol bodies for 2021 endorsing nominations put forward for the Implementation Committee, Executive Committee and the Co-Chairs of the Open-ended Working Group. Re-nominations for the membership of the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) of its co-chairs were endorsed, with the terms for nominated Senior Experts limited to one year, allowing the TEAP to continue its work, pending a review at the next 2021 in-person meeting.
The sixty-fifth meeting of the Implementation Committee, which took place online from 16-18 November prepared draft decisions related to non-compliance under the Montreal Protocol which were also adopted by the MOP32.
During the high-level segment, parties were shown a preview of the Secretariat’s Reset Earth campaign’s animation and game app due to be launched in January 2021. Parties and ozone stakeholders also had the opportunity to attend a total of 15 online side events held either side of the daily sessions.
Despite the challenges of addressing key issues online, undertaking significant pre-meeting preparatory work enabled the parties to find consensus and adopt 14 decisions crucial to the ongoing work of the Montreal Protocol; making the COP12(I)/MOP32 the first UNEP Multilateral Environmental Agreement to do so virtually.
For more information, please contact:
Keishamaza Rukikaire, Head of News and Media, UN Environment Programme rukikaire@un.org
Stephanie Haysmith, Communications Officer, Ozone Secretariat stephanie.haysmith@un.org
