Washington, DC — A new adjustment to protect ozone and mitigate climate change under the Montreal Protocol entered into force last week, just as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to honor a small group of individuals for their outstanding work on protecting ozone and climate in successfully passing the new adjustment. The agreement by all 191 Parties to the Montreal Protocol at the September 2007 meeting will reduce climate emissions by 16 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent through 2040, according to EPA. At the same meeting, the Parties agreed that climate change mitigation is now an explicit goal of the Montreal Protocol, in addition to fighting ozone layer depletion. The HCFC chemicals targeted in the accelerated phase-out can be up to approximately 2,000 times more potent in contributing to climate change than CO2.

“Efforts to help restore the ozone layer and fight climate change will benefit the planet for generations to come,”� said Bob Meyers, principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air & Radiation. “We commend the 2008 Climate and Ozone Layer Protection Award winners for their work to protect our environment.”�

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Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD), along with colleague Scott Stone, is one of the awardees being honored at the 2008 U.S. EPA Climate Protection and Ozone Layer Protection Awards for his important contribution to the accelerated HCFC phase-out, receiving separate awards for both climate and ozone.

“2007 will be remembered as the year when environmental NGOs joined with developing and developed countries to bring climate concerns to the Montreal Protocol—starting with an accelerated HCFC phaseout,”� said Zaelke. “Our message is that protecting stratospheric ozone is not finished and that the Montreal Protocol has many important lessons for other climate treaties.”�

Zaelke and the team at IGSD will continue to focus on maximizing the climate mitigation potential of the ozone treaty through the destruction of CFCs and HCFCs contained in old air conditioners and other equipment. More than 7 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2012 will be released into the atmosphere at the end of the products’ lives if not disposed of properly.

Concerned about the survival of their island nations amid the threat of devastating sea-level rise, the Federated States of Micronesia and Mauritius submitted a joint proposal last week to address the issue of these equipment emissions at the next Montreal Protocol meeting in November. Argentina submitted its own proposal as well. The U.S., a strong supporter of the adjustment last September, pledged their support for the destruction of banks during the UNFCCC meeting in Bali and will be submitting a proposed decision (rather than an adjustment) to address the issue.

The “adjustment”� feature of the Montreal Protocol is a unique process which allows Parties to make changes to regulations of chemicals already controlled under the treaty. The adjustment only requires a consensus of the Parties and enters into force 6 months after notification of the adjustment has been sent to the United Nations office in New York. The accelerated HCFC phase-out adjustment was the first time that the Parties to the Montreal Protocol explicitly strengthened the treaty to benefit climate, in addition to protecting the ozone layer.

Environmental leaders (and fellow 2008 EPA awardees) like Romina Picolotti, Minister of Environment for Argentina, Marco Gonzalez, Executive Secretary of the UNEP Ozone Secretariat, Maas Goote from the Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Husamuddin Ahmadzai from the Swedish EPA, and Sateeaved Seebaluck from the Mauritius Ministry of Environment, recognized early on the importance of strengthening the Montreal Protocol to address climate emissions and played major roles in building support for the adjustment.

With the tipping point for devastating sea-level rise and other abrupt climate change events only 10 years away according to some scientists, fast-action climate strategies like the 2007 Montreal Protocol adjustment are critical to buying world leaders more time to negotiate a long-term post-2012 climate treaty. Zaelke and his team at IGSD are continuing to focus on other fast-action climate mitigation strategies including black carbon, other non-CO2 gases, protection of forests, bio-char sequestration, and renewable energy.

The Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) promotes just and sustainable societies and protects the environment by advancing the understanding, development and implementation of effective, accountable and democratic systems of governance for sustainable development. The Institute’s projects focus on climate change, research and education, capacity building, advice and advocacy, and media. IGSD also serves as the secretariat for the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE). For more information, please visit http://igsd.org/.

Contact Info: Contact: Ms. Alex Viets
Communications Officer, IGSD
+1-213-321-0911
aviets@igsd.org
http://igsd.org/

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development