Beyond the presence of Montreal Protocol and Kigali amendment, the world needs to act on many ozone-damaging emissions. Discuss (200 Words)
Refer - Financial Express
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IAS Parliament 3 years
KEY POINTS
· The Montreal Protocol, viewed as one of the most successful international treaties, seeks to bring down use of chemicals depleting the planet’s stratospheric-ozone.
· The Kigali Amendment that was adopted globally in 2016, and became effective in 2019, aims to limit the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
· HFCs are not ozone-depleting, but carry catastrophic warming potential, given they are almost a thousand times more potent than carbon dioxide.
· The Kigali Amendment tasks industrialised nations to cut production and use of HFCs by 85% of the 2011-2013 levels by 2036.
· The Amendment is certainly ambitious, given HFC usage in cooling and refrigeration vis-a-vis the growing need for these with climate-change making intense heatwaves more frequent than ever before.
· India has assumed a leadership role in ozone action under the Montreal Protocol, and its ratification of the Amendment presents a lot of opportunities.
New challenges to ozone
· Beyond the Montreal Protocol, as it exists now, the world needs to act on many ozone-damaging emissions.
· Anthropogenic emission of nitrous oxide plays a significant role in stratospheric ozone depletion directly and by moderating depletion by chlorinated chemicals.
· Space exploration poses a significant threat to the ozone layer that had begun healing from historical depletion following action under the Montreal Protocol.
