An agreement to start formal negotiations to phase-down the production and consumption of HFCs has been agreed by governments globally.

At an extended preparatory meeting of the Montreal Protocol, parties agreed a mandate for a contact group to begindeliberations at the 27th Meeting of the Parties next week in Dubai.

Four proposals to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase down HFCs have been submitted to the meeting. In addition the US, Canada and Mexico have submitted an information document to the meeting, proposing a two-step approach starting with a scaled back amendment agreement in 2015 with remaining items to be negotiated in 2016.

A new report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) “Solving the Global Climate Crisis: Taking the first step with a Dubai Amendment on HFCs” is calling on Parties to agree ambitious HFC reductions in developed countries and early action to curtail HFC growth in developing countries.

Clare Perry, Senior Campaigner for Environmental Investigation Agency said: “HFCs are the fastest growing group of greenhouse gases and international action is urgently needed.

“By starting negotiations for anHFC phase-down at the Montreal Protocol, 197 countries have come together and demonstrated that multilateral action is possible with political will” said Mark W. Roberts, EIA International Policy Advisor.

“An amendment during next week’s Meeting of the Parties would be a much-needed shot in the arm for climate action and a strong signal to the UNFCCC to adopt a robust agreement at COP 21 in Paris.”

EIA_MOP27_Climate_report_briefing.pdf

[ΠΗΓΗ:http://www.racplus.com/, http://eia-global.org/]