The 28th Meeting to the Parties of the Montreal Protocol (MOP 28) is currently underway in Rwanda.
The MOP 28 follows two meetings which were crucial to the phasedown of HFCs. The 38th Meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG 38), which was held in Vienna three months ago, world leaders made progress on a global deal to manage HFCs. Last week, a meeting was held in New York where the New York Declaration of the Coalition to Secure an Ambitious HFC Amendment was established and signed by representatives of over 100 countries, Australia was one of those countries.
At the OEWG 38, close to 200 countries met in Vienna and made progress on several HFC phasedown challenges, including but not limited to: funding, exemptions, freeze dates, reduction schedules and targets on developed and developing nations to eliminate HFCs.
According to two press releases published by the Australian Refrigeration Association (ARA), as well as the establishment and signatures of the New York Declaration of the Coalition to Secure an Ambitious HFC Amendment, $80 million was pledged from donor countries and philanthropists to support developing countries transition past HFCs. This support would include developing programmes to track and reduce HFCs, as well as help consumers and businesses realise the economic benefits from energy efficiency and HFC alternatives. The US also proposed that growth in HFC use could be “frozen” at 2021 levels and scaled down to be largely eliminated by 2050.
According to the Climate Policy Observer’s website, negotiations on a HFC amendment, nominations for critical use and essential use exemptions, as well as decisions from the 38th Meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG 38), are on the MOP 28 agenda.
The MOP 28 concludes on Friday, more information on the MOP 28 can be found here.