At the just-completed 36th Montreal Protocol Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) meeting in Dubai, the Parties achieved agreement on a mandate for the contact group. This is a significant step towards amending the Protocol, a step which has not been achieved in at least six years.

The contact group is the vehicle to hold talks on amending the Protocol to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Although achieving this contact group mandate was a central goal of the United States delegation for the OEWG, it does not guarantee that the discussions in the contact group will lead to an amendment.

The contact group is expected to meet in the margins of the Meeting of the Parties which is taking place Nov. 1-5.

Here is a link to the text of the mandate.

Publication date: 11/3/2015