WASHINGTON, DC, USA, September 16, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy today, in commemoration of the 35th Anniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol, urges the United States Senate to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Protocol as a sign of continued support for global environmental protection, and continued US policy and technology leadership. “Kigali Counts,” implored Chairman Meyers. “It counts for the continuation of US policy and technology leadership, for the 35-year track record of continuous bipartisan support for domestic and global implementation, and for signaling the importance of continued government, industry and NGO cooperation on critical environmental policy issues.”

The Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy (“Alliance”) is an industry coalition of fluorocarbon producers, user entities and trade associations of companies that rely on these compounds. The Alliance was organized in 1980 and has been a leading voice in the development and implementation of ozone protection policy at the global level as well as domestic implementation under Title VI of the Clean Air Act. Today, the Alliance coordinates industry participation in the development of economically and environmentally beneficial international and domestic policies at the nexus of ozone protection and climate change.

The Montreal Protocol, first negotiated and signed during the Reagan Administration, was signed on September 16, 1987, and is now considered to be one of the most successful treaties ever negotiated. It remains the only treaty in the UN system to which every country is a party. The Protocol has achieved extraordinary success in accelerating the recovery of the earth’s protective ozone layer, and has succeeded in introducing three generations of technology improvements that have assured the important technologies governed by the treaty s well as access to all countries, developed and developing. The Protocol was ratified by the US Senate in 1988, and four subsequent amendments to the treaty to further protect the environment were approved by either unanimous consent or wide bipartisan margins.

The Kigali amendment to the Protocol was completed in October 2016. It achieves an 85% reduction in global consumption of hydrofluorocarbon compounds by 2047, and is reported to save up to a 0.5 degree centigrade of warming by 2100. Kigali has currently been ratified by137 countries, including all major developed country economies, as well as major developing country economies, including China and India.

In December 2020, the Congress passed and President Trump signed the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (the AIM Act), which provides for the domestic implementation of the HFC phasedown consistent with the Kigali Amendment. In November 2021, President Biden sent the Kigali Amendment to the Senate for advice and consent, where it was heard in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reported out with significant bipartisan support, and placed on the Senate Executive Calendar. Now, the Kigali Amendment is slated for a cloture vote on possible floor consideration next week.

Full implementation of the AIM Act and full global implementation is projected to create 33,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States, improve the U.S. balance of trade by $12.5 billion annually, and increase the US share of the global air conditioning and refrigeration export market by 25%. Industry leaders have cautioned, however, that these economic benefits will only be realized if the U.S. ratifies the Kigali Amendment, and fully participates in the Kigali process. “The U.S. has been a critical leader in the Montreal Protocol process over the last 35 years, along with industry and the NGO community,” said Meyers, “and it is absolutely critical for the U.S. to maintain this leadership in the coming decades.”

Kevin Fay
The Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy
+1 703-841-0626
fay@alliancepolicy.org