The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is a global agreement to protect the Earth’s ozone layer by phasing out the chemicals that deplete it. This phase-out plan includes both the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances. The landmark agreement was signed in 1987 and entered into force in 1989.

The parties to the Protocol meet once a year to make decisions aimed at ensuring the successful implementation of the agreement. These include adjusting or amending the Protocol, which has been done six times since its creation. The most recent amendment, the Kigali Amendment, called for the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in 2016. These HFCs were used as replacements for a batch of ozone-depleting substances eliminated by the original Montreal Protocol. Although they do not deplete the ozone layer, they are known to be powerful greenhouse gases and, thus, contributors to climate change.

The Montreal Protocol provided a set of practical, actionable tasks that were universally agreed on. The Protocol has successfully met its objectives thus far and continues to safeguard the ozone layer today. Thanks to the collaborative effort of nations around the world, the ozone layer is well on its way to recovery.

Decision XVII/17: Technical and financial implications of the environmentally sound destruction of concentrated and diluted sources of ozone-depleting substances

The Seventeenth Meeting of the Parties decided in Dec. XVII/17:

Recognizing that, in the preamble to the Montreal Protocol, the Parties affirmed that, for the protection of the ozone layer, precautionary measures should be taken to control equitably total global emissions of substances that deplete it, with the ultimate objective of their elimination on the basis of developments in scientific knowledge,

Bearing in mind that, for most Parties operating under paragraph 1 of Article 5, chlorofluorocarbons which remain to be phased out are concentrated in the refrigeration servicing sector and that, as a result, their final elimination will only be achieved when all existing installed equipment has been replaced,

Considering that the replacement of such equipment necessitates a range of complex activities, including, among other things, economic incentives for end-users and the development of recovery, transport and environmentally sound destruction processes for obsolete equipment, with particular attention paid to training for this purpose and to the destruction of the chlorofluorocarbons released by such processes,

Noting the outcomes of the expert meeting on destruction of ozone depleting substances that will be held in Montreal from 22 to 24 February 2006,

  1. To request the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel to prepare terms of reference for the conduct of case-studies in Parties operating under paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the Protocol, with regional representation, on the technology and costs associated with a process for the replacement of chlorofluorocarbon-containing refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment, including the environmentally sound recovery, transport and final disposal of such equipment and of the associated chlorofluorocarbons;
  2. That these studies should explore economic and other incentives which will encourage users to phase out equipment and ozone-depleting substances and to reduce emissions, as well as the viability and costs of setting up destruction facilities in countries operating under paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the Protocol, and that the said studies should include a regional analysis relating to the management, transport and destruction of chlorofluorocarbons;
  3. Also to request the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel to review possible synergies with other conventions such as the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants;
  4. To request the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel to adopt the recovery and destruction efficiency parameter proposed in the Panel’s report to the Open-ended Working Group at its twenty-fifth meeting as the parameter to be applied in developing the proposed study referred to above;
  5. That said terms of reference shall be submitted to the Parties at the twenty-sixth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group, and that provision will be made for resources for this purpose in the 2006-2008 replenishment of the Multilateral Fund.