The European Union welcomes the global agreement reached on Saturday 15 October in Kigali, Rwanda, by the parties to the Montreal Protocol to amend the protocol to speed up the phasing out of hydrofluorocarbon gases (HFCs), which damage the climate 14,000 time more than carbon dioxide.
The EU passed a regulation in 2014 to reduce HFC emissions by two-thirds by 2030 on the 2014 levels (see EUROPE 11038). HFCs are used to substitute for ozone-depleting chemicals in a number of applications, such as air-conditioning and refrigeration, flame retardants, solvents and aerosols.
Under the Kigali Agreement, developed countries set the example by agreeing to a first round of phase-down measures that will run from now until 2019.
This is a major step forward for the climate, which had to be fought for, said Ségolène Royal, chair of COP 21, addressing environment ministers in Luxembourg on Monday 17 October, where they had travelled to discuss planned regulation for implementing the EU’s climate targets for 2030 (see other article).
"This is a huge win for the climate. We have taken the first concrete step in delivering on the promises we made in Paris last December. The global phase-down we have agreed today could knock off up to half a degree of warming by the end of the century", said Climate Action Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete in a press release issued in Kigali on Saturday evening (see EUROPE 11631).
"A strong commitment of countries to use these substance less and to help each other reaching this goal is a first concrete measure implementing the Paris Climate Agreement and will give an impulse for the next UN climate summit in Marrakesh in three weeks", says Jo Leinen (S&D, Germany), co-chair of the European Parliament’s delegation to the climate summit in Marrakesh, Morocco.
The 197 parties to the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances agreed in an amendment to include HFCs in the protocol, which has already managed to achieve a commitment to a global phase-down of HCFCs. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)