UNGA High-Level Event Monday on Montreal Protocol’s 30th Anniversary Canada & Rwanda Urge Rapid Ratification of Kigali Amendment
Today at 6:30 p.m. at UN Headquarters in New York, Conference Room 11 the Minister of Environment of the Republic of Rwanda, Dr. Vincent Biruta, and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada, Catherine McKenna, will host a high-level event on Ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
Panelists will include Mr. John Silk, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marshall Islands, and Mr. Erik Solheim, Executive Director of UN Environment, who has also urged for rapid ratification on this anniversary.
The co-hosts, Minister Vincent Biruta of Rwanda, who presided over the Kigali Amendment negotiations at the Meeting of the Parties in Rwanda last October, and Minister McKenna of Canada, are urging all countries to ratify the Kigali Amendment as soon as possible and to start implementing it to maximize its climate benefits.
Panelists:- Vincent Biruta – Minister of Environment, Rwanda, and MOP President
- Catherine McKenna – Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Canada
- Edgar Gutiérrez – Minister of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica, and President of the 2017 UN Environment Assembly
- Nicolas Hulot – Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, France
- John Silk – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marshall Islands
- Erik Solheim – Executive Director, UN Environment
- Achim Steiner – Administrator, UN Development Programme
- Tina Birmpili – Executive Secretary, UN Ozone Secretariat
- Mr. Miroslav Lajčák – President of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (TBC)
- Amina Mohamed – Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations (TBC)
The Kigali Amendment to phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) was adopted on the 14th of October 2016. The Amendment is to enter into force on 1 January 2019, provided at least 20 instruments of ratification, acceptance, or approval have been deposited by Parties to the Montreal Protocol. To date, six countries have ratified the Amendment – Mali, the Federate States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Rwanda, Palau, and Norway – with many other having notified they have begun the ratification process.
Canada, along with Chile, have called for “at least 30 Partners ratify the Amendment by the 30th-anniversary meeting of the Montreal Protocol on November 20-24, 2017.”The Kigali Amendment provides the largest, fastest, and most secure climate mitigation available in the near term, avoiding up to 0.5°C of warming by the end of the century. The HFC phasedown will also improve the energy efficiency of air conditioners, refrigerators, and other products and equipment that use HFCs as refrigerants. This will avoid significant amounts of CO2 emission from the power plants that provide the electricity to run these products and equipment, equal to the production from between nearly 1,600 medium-sized (500 MW) peak-load power plants by 2030, and up to 2,500 power plants by 2050.
At the last UNGA in September 2016, a group of donor countries and philanthropists announced they were providing $80 million in support to help countries in need of assistance implement the Kigali Amendment and improve energy efficiency.
Nobel Laureate Mario Molina’s Op-Ed on 30th Anniversary is here. IGSD’s HFC Primer is here.
