Highlights and images for 27 November 2020

Inger Andersen, in her opening address to the virtual combined twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (Part I) of the Vienna Convention and thirty-second Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol (COP 12(I)/MOP 32) high-level segment (HLS), lauded delegates for making progress despite the challenges of 2020. She also reflected on the key role science has played in the shaping of the 25-year history of the Vienna Convention and of its Montreal Protocol.

The final day of COP 12(I)/MOP 32 saw delegates spent much of their time in the HLS hearing updates from the Assessment Panels, as well as the activities of the Multilateral Fund (MLF) and its implementing agencies.

The MLF Replenishment contact group had reconvened briefly in the morning to conclude its work on a decision for the interim budget for 2021-2023, before returning to plenary to forward the decision to the HLS. Ultimately, COP 12(I)/MOP 32 adopted a number of decisions, including those on:

• financial reports and budgets for the Vienna Convention;
• critical-use exemptions for 2021 and 2022;
• an interim budget for the Multilateral Fund (MLF) for the triennium 2021-2023;
• the memberships of the various Protocol bodies;
• non-compliance of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea;
• convening an extraordinary MOP in 2021; and
• the financial reports and budgets for the Protocol.

As MOP 32 President Paul Krajnik (Austria) noted in his closing remarks, “We have sent an important signal that despite the difficulties, the work of the Montreal Protocol is well on track.”

Over 300 delegates took part in COP 12(I)/MOP 32, which met online from 23-27 November 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Delegates addressed a pared down agenda to address only those items that needed to urgently be addressed.