Ratification of Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol

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• Recently, the Cabinet approved Ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer for phase down of Hydrofluorocarbons.

Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer

• It is an international environmental treaty for protection of the Ozone Layer by phasing out the production and consumption of man-made chemicals referred to as ozone depleting substances (ODS). 
• India became a Party to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer on 19 June 1992 and since then has ratified the amendments to the Montreal Protocol. 
• India has successfully met the phase out targets of all the Ozone Depleting Substances as per the Montreal Protocol Schedule.

Kigali Amendment

• Under the Kigali Amendment, Parties to the Montreal Protocol will phase down production and consumption of Hydrofluorocarbons, commonly known as HFCs.
• The Parties to the Montreal Protocol, reached agreement at their 28th Meeting of the Parties (MOP) held in October 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda to add HFCs to the list of controlled substances.
• The Parties approved a timeline for their gradual reduction by 80-85 per cent by the late 2040s.
• All amendments and adjustments of the Montreal Protocol, prior to the Kigali Amendment have universal support.
• India will complete its phase down of HFCs in 4 steps from 2032 onwards with cumulative reduction of 10% in 2032, 20% in 2037, 30% in 2042 and 80% in 2047.
• India will be ratifying the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol for phase down of Hydrofluorocarbons.

India : Implementation Strategy and Targets

• National strategy for phase down of Hydrofluorocarbons as per the applicable phase down schedule for India will be developed after required consultation with all the industry stakeholders by 2023.
• Amendments to the existing legislation framework, the Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Rules to allow appropriate control of the production and consumption of Hydrofluorocarbons to ensure compliance with the Kigali Amendment will be done by mid-2024.
• India in 2016 committed to phase down HFCs in 4 steps from 2032 onwards with cumulative reduction of 10% in 2032, 20% in 2037, 30% in 2042 and 80% in 2047.

Significance

• Mitigating Temperature Rise: HFCs phasedown is expected to prevent the emission of up to 105 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases, helping to avoid up to 0.5 degree Celsius of global temperature rise by 2100, while continuing to protect the ozone layer.
• Energy Efficient Gains: Implementation of HFC phase down under the Kigali Amendment through the adoption of low-global warming potential and energy-efficient technologies will achieve energy efficiency gains and carbon dioxide emissions reduction – a “climate co-benefit”.
• Synergised Government schemes and Programs: HFCs phase down implementation will involve synergies with on-going government programmes and schemes of the Government of India with the objective to maximize the economic arid social co-benefits, besides environmental gains.
• Boost to Domestic Manufacturing: There would be scope for domestic manufacturing of equipment as well as alternative non-HFC and low-global warming potential  chemicals to enable the industry to transition to the low global warming potential alternatives as per the agreed HFC phase down schedule. 
• Improvement in Innovation: There would be opportunities to promote domestic innovation for new generation alternative refrigerants and related technologies.

India’s Nationally Determined Contributions and Carbon Neutrality

• India’s NDC includes:
  • reducing the emissions intensity of GDP by 33%–35% by 2030 below 2005 levels; 
  • increase the share of non-fossil-based energy resources to 40% of installed electric power capacity by 2030, with help of transfer of technology and low-cost international finance including from Green Climate Fund (GCF)
  • to create an additional (cumulative) carbon sink of 2.5–3 GtCO2e through additional forest and tree cover by 2030. It has committed to installing 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030 of which 100 GW is reportedly installed.
• Carbon neutrality
  • Net zero or carbon neutrality is when more carbon is sucked out from the atmosphere or prevented from being emitted than what a country emits and is critical to ensuring that the planet doesn’t heat up an additional half a degree by 2100.
  • A little over 120 countries have committed, with varying degrees of firmness, to reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. 
  • Five countries have net zero pledges set for after 2050, including Australia and Singapore, which haven’t set a firm target yet.
  • China, the world’s biggest emitter, has committed to peaking its emissions before 2030 and achieving net zero by 2060.
  • The United States has said it would achieve net zero by 2050 and nearly halve emissions by 2030. 
  • India is among the major countries that haven’t committed to a 2050 plan but has said it is one of the countries that has delivered on one of the 2015 Paris Agreements main goals that is taking steps to ensure that its emissions don’t put the globe on a road to heating one degree more than present by the turn of the century. 
  • Further, India’s position is that it has among the lowest per capita emissions, and is not responsible for the climate crisis, which the science establishes is due to historical emissions by developed countries.

Conclusion

• The industry producing and consuming Hydrofluorocarbons will be phasing out Hydrofluorocarbons as per the agreed schedule under and transition to non-HFC and low global warming potential technologies.
• HFC phasedown is expected to prevent greenhouse gas emissions, helping prevent climate change and would benefit the people. 

Source: PIB