The Parties began their 20th anniversary meeting on 11 September in Montreal to hammer out an agreement to accelerate the reduction and ban of HCFCs.
In what is being hailed as an historic step forward in the fight against global warming, the Parties reached a unanimous deal on Friday (21 September) to accelerate the phase-out of HCFCs, starting in 2009.
Developed nations agreed to a timetable of 90% reduction by 2015 and total phase-out of HCFCs by 2020. For developing nations, the dates were set back ten years: 67.5% reduction by 2025 and total ban by 2030.
An agreement on financial transfers to help developing nations comply with the commitments was also reached, though no details were released.
"The precise and final savings in terms of greenhouse-gas emissions could amount to several billions of tonnes," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in a press statement. The 191-party deal illustrates "the complementarities of international environmental agreements" Steiner added, in reference to the Kyoto Protocol.
The agreement on HCFCs comes as international negotiations on a post-Kyoto framework are heating up in advance of a major UN Climate Change conference in Bali, scheduled for 3-14 December. US President George W. Bush will also host a separate meeting on climate change this week (27-28 September) in Washington.
