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The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and the HFC phase-down

By CAShorts DeskPublished Updated Source: Indian Express Explained (15 October 2026); UNEP Ozone Secretariat; PIB (MoEFCC)

Why in news: The Kigali Amendment, adopted on 15 October 2016, marked its tenth anniversary on 15 October 2026, with 175 parties by early October.

The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and the HFC phase-down
Illustration (AI-generated)

The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, adopted in Rwanda in 2016 and in force since January 2019, sets binding schedules to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), refrigerants that spare the ozone layer but trap heat strongly. India, which ratified it in 2021, must freeze HFC use in 2028. The amendment turned ten on 15 October 2026.

Syllabus: Prelims · Environment & Ecology; GS3 · Environment & Conservation; GS2 · International Institutions

Why this matters for UPSC

GS3 environment and GS2 international agreements: Prelims asks which gases the Kigali Amendment controls, India's group and schedule, and the Multilateral Fund; Mains asks how India can cool a hotter country without warming it further.

In short

The Kigali Amendment (2016) brings hydrofluorocarbons, ozone-safe but heat-trapping refrigerants, under the Montreal Protocol, making an ozone treaty a climate instrument.

India's HFC phase-down pathKigali Amendment (2016)Ratification, 2021Freeze in 2028Cut 10 per cent in 203285 per cent by 2047

Kigali's success for India will depend less on meeting the 2028 freeze than on pairing every refrigerant switch with efficient, repairable cooling.

Why it matters

Air-conditioners, fridges and cold stores keep people healthy in heatwaves and keep food and vaccines from spoiling, so India will buy far more of them. Every one of those machines warms the planet twice: when its gas leaks, and when it burns coal-fired electricity. A family that buys a cheap, inefficient unit pays for it in power bills for a decade, and the grid needs extra plants to meet summer evening peaks. Kigali forces a switch of refrigerant; if India uses that moment to demand efficient, well-serviced machines, households save money, power shortages ease and climate goals become easier to meet.

Prelims pointers

  • Montreal Protocol: signed 1987, in force 1989; controls both production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances; Kigali is its most recent amendment.
  • Article 5 parties: developing-country parties allowed delayed compliance with the Protocol's control measures; their compliance depends on finance under Article 10 and technology transfer under Article 10A.
  • Group 2 members (Decision XXVIII/2): Bahrain, India, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
  • Group 1 schedule: freeze 2024 on a 2020-2022 baseline, 80% cut by 2045; developed-country schedule: cuts from 2019, 85% by 2036.
  • HFC-23 (Annex F, Group II): a by-product of making HCFCs and HFCs; from 2020 producers must destroy it, as far as practicable, with technologies the parties approve.
  • India Cooling Action Plan (MoEFCC, March 2019): aims to cut cooling demand by 20-25% by 2037-38 and train 100,000 servicing technicians by 2022-23, synergising with Skill India Mission.
  • Short-lived climate pollutants: methane, black carbon, HFCs and tropospheric ozone; strong warmers that stay in the air far shorter than carbon dioxide.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), consider the following statements:

1. Their phase-down was agreed through the Kigali Amendment to the Paris Agreement under the UNFCCC.

2. They replaced chlorofluorocarbons in refrigeration partly because they do not deplete the ozone layer.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. (a) 1 only
  2. (b) 2 only
  3. (c) Both 1 and 2
  4. (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer

Answer: (b) 2 only

Answer: (b) 2 only. HFCs are ozone-safe, and their phase-down sits in the Montreal Protocol, not the Paris Agreement.

Statement 1: incorrect. The Kigali Amendment (2016) amends the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, not the Paris Agreement.

Statement 2: correct. HFCs contain no chlorine, so they spare ozone; that is why they replaced CFCs, though many are potent greenhouse gases.

Eliminate: Statement 1 pins the amendment on the wrong treaty, so it is wrong. Out: (a), (c).

Eliminate: Statement 2 states why HFCs replaced CFCs, so it is right. Out: (d).

Trap: Swapped attribution. Because HFCs are a climate problem, a student may assume the climate treaty controls them; the ozone treaty does.

Remember: HFC phase-down = Kigali Amendment (2016) to the Montreal Protocol (1987).

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