PURPOSE: to conclude, on behalf of the European Union, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act.
BACKGROUND: the European Union has already approved the Vienna Convention for the protection of the ozone layer, the Montreal Protocol and the four previous amendments to the Protocol.
At the 28th meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, which took place in Kigali, Rwanda, from 10 to 15 October 2016, the text of a further amendment to the Montreal Protocol ("the Kigali Amendment") was adopted.
The Kigali amendment added a stepwise reduction in the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) to the control measures of the Montreal Protocol.
This reduction is necessary to reduce the contribution of those substances to climate change and to prevent their unlimited introduction, in particular in developing countries.
The Kigali Amendment should now be approved.
CONTENT: the Council draft seeks to approve, on behalf of the European Union, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.
The Kigali Amendment will enter into force on 1 January 2019, provided that at least 20 parties have deposited their instruments of ratification. It is a necessary contribution to the implementation of the Paris Agreement, approved by Council Decision (EU) 2016/1841, as regards its objective to keep the global temperature increase well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The text of the Kigali Amendment divides countries into three groups based on when they will have to reduce the use of HFCs. Together, countries will have to reduce HFC levels by 85% by 2047.