Building on a previous proposal tabled by the governments of Mauritius and Micronesia, the governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico have submitted a joint North American proposal to phase down the use of HFCs under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

Signaling their support for regulating HFCs through the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer rather than the new Post-Kyoto climate treaty to be negotiated in Copenhagen in December, the United States (U.S.), Canada and Mexico have submitted to the Ozone Secretariat of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) a joint North American proposal regarding the phase-down of such substances.

The proposal builds on the HFC amendment proposal tabled by Mauritius and Micronesia on 4 May 2009, which is formally under consideration under the Montreal Protocol negotiations this year and provides an alternative methodology for establishing baselines and describes step-wise reductions for both developed and developing countries.

The main points of the proposal

The main points of the joint North American proposal, include:

• Phase-down rather than phase-out of production and consumption: According to the proposal, parties will be required to achieve a final phase-down plateau of production and consumption of 15% of the baseline in year 2033 for developed countries and year 2043 for developing countries. The phase down will commence in 2013 in developed countries and 2016 in developing, while the baseline will be calculated as the average of 2004-2006 annual production and consumption of HCFCs and HFCs.

• Interim targets: The phasedown schedules for both developing and developed countries include interim targets between the commencement and reaching the final plateau.

• Limiting HFC-23 byproduct emissions: The proposal includes provisions to limit HFC-23 byproduct emissions resulting from the production of HCFCs such as HCFC22.
• Licencing of imports and exports: The proposal requires licensing of HFC imports and exports, and bans imports and exports to non-Parties.

• Reporting on production and consumption: The proposal requires reporting on production and consumption of HFCs, as well as on HFC-23 byproduct emissions.

Linkage with UNFCCC & next steps

The proposal envisions an amendment to the Montreal Protocol. It leaves unchanged the provisions of the UNFCCC / Kyoto Protocol that govern HFCs, requiring, however, a related decision by the UNFCCC confirming the Montreal Protocol approach.

“The U.S. government looks forward to working with [its] partners in the run up to the 21st Meeting of the Montreal Protocol Parties in November in Egypt and in the run up to the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in December in Denmark to make the most effective use possible of the tools available to safeguard the ozone layer and protect the global climate system”, reads the announcement of the U.S. State Department.