Highlights and images for 30 October 2024

With the high-level segment set to begin on Thursday, delegates spent Wednesday going from contact group to contact group as negotiations on the draft decisions took center stage.

Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

In a brief morning plenary, contact groups and the budget committee reported on progress so far and all requested additional time to finalize their discussions. As a result, contact groups were scheduled throughout the day and into the evening in the hope that negotiations on some of the draft decisions could be finalized. 

Over the course of the day, contact groups met on a number of issues that will further enhance the functioning and implementation of the Montreal Protocol in its objectives to reduce and eliminate ozone depleting substances and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are potent greenhouse gases covered under the Kigali Amendment.  

Contact groups met on: 

• HFC-23 emissions; 
• HFC-23 reporting forms; 
• Energy efficiency in the cooling sector; 
• Unwanted imports of equipment containing or relying on controlled substances; 
• Very short-lived substances; 
• Feedstock uses of controlled substances; 
• Enhancing global and regional atmospheric monitoring of controlled substances;  
• Measures to facilitate the transition to metered-dose inhalers with low-global-warming-potential propellants or other alternative products;  
• Measures to support the sustainable management of recovered, recycled, or reclaimed halons; 
• Further strengthening Montreal Protocol institutions;  
• Possible compliance deferral for Article 5, group 2 parties; and  
• Life-cycle refrigerant management. 

The budget committee also convened as did an informal group on membership of the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP).

By the end of the day, although hurried, delegates agreed that most of the draft decisions already reflect some middle ground, which means, as one delegate noted, “we are likely heading towards a successful conclusion of this COP-MOP, despite the hoops we still need to jump through.”