Delegates from the US, Saudia Arabia, and India, in informal consultations on energy efficiency during the 29th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol

The Thirtieth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (MOP 30) will convene from 5-9 November 2018 in Quito, Ecuador.

Adopted in 1987, the Montreal Protocol is the sole protocol to the 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. Since its inception, the Protocol has sought to control and phase out ozone-depleting substances (ODS) such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), halons, carbon tetrachloride (CTC), methyl chloroform, methyl bromide, hydrobromofluorocarbons, and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). With its most recent amendment adopted in 2016 at Kigali, Rwanda, the Protocol also seeks to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), substitutes for many ODS that have been found to have high global warming potential (GWP).

The MOP meets annually to consider reports from its scientific and technical advisory bodies, decide on critical and use exemptions requested by parties, and debate and decide on any other legal or technical issue affecting the implementation of the Protocol and its amendments and adjustments.

MOP 30 will address the issues assigned to it by the 29th MOP (please consult our summary and analysis of MOP 29) and other matters prepared for it by the recent meeting of the MOP’s Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) (please consult our summary and analysis of OEWG 40). These include:

• Issues important to the January 2019 entry into force of the Kigali Amendment on HFCs, including:
• Data reporting issues, including revised reporting forms, ways to report mixtures and blends, and setting GWP values for HCFC-141 and HCFC-142;
• Decision on approved destruction technologies to be used for HFCs;
• Progress in developing guidelines for the financing of the HFC phase-down;
• Consideration of linkages between HCFCs and HFCs in transitioning to low-GWP alternatives; and
• Issues related to energy efficiency while phasing down HFCs;
• Future availability of halons and their alternatives, especially in sectors such as civil aviation and merchant shipping;
• Nominations for critical-use exemptions for methyl bromide for 2019 and 2020;
• Development and availability of laboratory and analytical procedures that can be performed without using substances controlled under the Protocol;
• Proposals for changes in ODS approved for process-agent applications;
• A proposal to permit essential use exemptions for HCFCs for specific uses by certain parties;
• Unexpected emissions of CFC-11 recently detected;
• A review of the work and recommended decisions of the Implementation Committee; and
• A review of the terms of reference, composition and balance of the scientific and technical advisory bodies.