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Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Kigali Amendment)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2017

Eric A. Heath*
Affiliation:
International Law Fellow, American Society of International Law. LL.M., University of Edinburgh, 2016; J.D., University of Georgia, 2015; B.A., Lipscomb University, 2012.

Abstract

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Type
International Legal Documents
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by The American Society of International Law 

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References

ENDNOTES

1 What's Next for the Kigali Deal to Curb Potent Greenhouse Gases?, UNEP News Center (Oct. 20, 2016), at http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=27086&ArticleID=36286&l=en [hereinafter Future of Kigali].

2 Countries Agree to Curb Powerful Greenhouse Gases in Largest Climate Breakthrough Since Paris, UNEP News Center (Oct. 15, 2016), at http://www.unep.org/Documents. Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=27086&ArticleID=36283&l=en.

3 The Environmental Movement's Greatest Success Story: Ozone Layer Begins to Heal, UNEP, at http://www.unep.org/stories/Climate/Ozone-Layer-Begins-to-Heal.asp (last visited Jan. 15, 2017).

4 Edith Brown Weiss, Introductory Note to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law, at http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/vcpol/vcpol.html (last visited Jan. 15, 2017).

5 Future of Kigali, supra note 1.

6 Id.

7 Id.

8 Id.

9 Cass R. Sunstein, Montreal vs. Kyoto: A Tale of Two Protocols 12 (John M. Olin Law & Economics, Working Paper No. 302 (2D Series), 2006), at http://www.law.uchicago.edu/files/files/302.pdf.

10 Watching the Ozone Hole Before and After the Montreal Protocol, NASA Earth Observatory (Sept. 18, 2012), at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=79198; Susan Solomon et al., Emergence of Healing in the Antarctic Ozone Layer, 353 Science 269–74 (June 30, 2016).

11 Handbook for The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, UNEP Ozone Secretariat, at http://ozone.unep.org/en/treaties-decisions/montreal-protocol-substances-deplete-ozone-layer (last visited Jan. 15, 2017) [hereinafter Handbook for the Montreal Protocol].

12 Future of Kigali, supra note 1.

13 Id.

14 Id.

15 Montreal Protocol Art. 9(5), 1522 UNTS 3; 26 ILM 1550 (1987). While the EPA arguably has the authority to implement the Amendment without the advice and consent of the Senate under 42 U.S.C. § 7671n, there is a precedent of submitting amendments to the Montreal Protocol to the Senate for approval, and the current or incoming administration is likely to follow that precedent. See James Losey, Phase-Down of HFCs Depends on Trump Administration, Law 360 (Nov. 30, 2016), at https://www.law360.com/foodbeverage/articles/867333/phase-down-of-hfcs-depends-on-trump-administration.

16 See generally Coral Davenport, Donald Trump Could Put Climate Change on Course for ‘Danger Zone’, N.Y. Times, Nov. 10, 2016, at A1.

17 Handbook for the Montreal Protocol, supra note 11.

18 Natural Resources Defense Council v. Environmental Protection Agency, 464 F.3d 1, 4 (D.C. Cir. 2006).

19 John H. Knox, International Decisions: Natural Resource Defense Council v. Environmental Protection Agency. 464 F.3d 1. United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, August 29, 2006, 101 AJIL 471, 474 (2007).

20 Lecture by Suzanne Rubini, Chief, Legal Office, EPA, in Athens, GA (Apr. 4, 2014) (notes on file with author).

21 Coral Davenport and Eric Lipton, Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead E.P.A., N.Y. Times, Dec. 7, 2016, at A1.

22 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol Art IV(1), Oct. 15, 2016, at https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/CN/2016/CN.872.2016-Eng.pdf. This entry into force provision allows the regime to escape the unfortunate fate of the Kyoto Protocol, which could only enter into force if ratifications covered 55 percent of emissions from Annex I countries. When the United States failed to ratify the agreement, the Kyoto Protocol could only enter into force with the support of Russia. Russia did ratify the agreement, but it did so without taking on any emission reduction obligations, ultimately leaving the Kyoto Protocol in a state of impotence.

23 Daniel Bodansky, Marrakech Express—Going Slow but Still on Track, Opinio Juris (Dec. 9, 2016), at http://opiniojuris.org/2016/12/09/marrakech-express-going-slow-but-still-on-track/.