World Ozone Day 2026: Ten Years of the Kigali Amendment and the Cooling Question

🗞️ Why in News 16 September 2026 is the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, commonly called World Ozone Day. It commemorates the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer on 16 September 1987, and this year marks 10 years since the Kigali Amendment was adopted in October 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda. The UN Environment Programme’s OzonAction theme for 2026 is “Global Action for a Cooler Planet, Celebrating 10 years of Sustainable Cooling under the Kigali Amendment”. The observance places India’s India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP), the world’s first such national plan, in the frame.

The Montreal Protocol and its Amendments

The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was adopted in 1985 as an umbrella framework, and the Montreal Protocol was adopted under it on 16 September 1987, entering into force on 1 January 1989. The Protocol committed parties to phase out ozone-depleting substances (ODS), principally chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), halons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and other chemicals used in refrigeration, foam blowing, aerosols and fire suppression. On 16 September 2009, the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol became the first treaties in UN history to achieve universal ratification.

The Protocol has been amended and adjusted several times. The five formal amendments are:

• London Amendment, 1990 (added CFCs, halons and other ODS to the phase-out list)
• Copenhagen Amendment, 1992 (accelerated phase-out and added HCFCs and methyl bromide)
• Montreal Amendment, 1997 (import-export licensing system)
• Beijing Amendment, 1999 (added bromochloromethane and tightened HCFC controls)
• Kigali Amendment, 2016 (added hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) to the phase-down list; entered into force 1 January 2019)

The Kigali Amendment, Ten Years On

The Kigali Amendment is distinctive because hydrofluorocarbons are not themselves ozone-depleting substances; they were introduced as the replacements for CFCs and HCFCs precisely because they do not deplete ozone. But they are potent greenhouse gases, with global warming potentials (GWPs) hundreds to thousands of times that of carbon dioxide. The Amendment therefore phases HFCs down, not out, on a differentiated timetable.

Under the Amendment, countries are grouped as:

• Developed countries (non-Article 5 parties): baseline 2011-13; reductions from 2019; final step to 85 per cent reduction from baseline by 2036.
• Developing countries, Group 1 (Article 5 parties, including China): baseline 2020-22; freeze in 2024; final step to 80 per cent reduction by 2045.
• Developing countries, Group 2 (Article 5 parties: India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the Gulf states): baseline 2024-26; freeze in 2028; final step to 85 per cent reduction by 2047.

India ratified the Kigali Amendment in September 2021. The UN Environment Programme estimates that full implementation of the Amendment can avoid up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of warming by 2100.

India Cooling Action Plan

India was the first country to release a comprehensive national Cooling Action Plan, in March 2019. The plan sets a 20-year outlook (2017-18 to 2037-38) with targets to:

• Reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20-25 per cent by 2037-38.
• Reduce refrigerant demand by 25-30 per cent by 2037-38.
• Reduce cooling energy requirements by 25-40 per cent by 2037-38.
• Recognise cooling and related areas as a thrust area under the national science and technology programme.
• Train and certify 100,000 servicing technicians by 2022-23 in cooling servicing, with a focus on the informal sector.

Cooling in India spans residential and commercial air-conditioning, cold-chain and refrigeration, mobile air-conditioning, and industrial refrigeration. It is a development need in a warming climate; India’s per-capita cooling energy is a fraction of the developed-country average and is projected to grow sharply. The Kigali architecture, and the ICAP within it, is the framework for growing cooling access without a proportional growth in emissions.

Ozone Depletion, the Science

Ozone (O3) in the stratosphere, between about 10 and 50 kilometres above the surface, absorbs the sun’s ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation. Depletion allows more UV-B to reach the surface, with consequences for human health (skin cancer, cataracts), ecosystems (phytoplankton, terrestrial vegetation), and materials. Chlorine and bromine radicals released by ODS at stratospheric altitudes catalyse the destruction of ozone.

The Antarctic ozone hole, first identified in the early 1980s, remains the most-cited signal, and its recovery is projected to be complete by around 2066 if compliance is sustained. The 2022 Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion, prepared quadrennially under the Protocol, confirmed that global ozone is on the path to recovery.

UPSC Relevance

GS Paper 3. Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation; environmental treaties and conventions.

A question worth preparing. “The Montreal Protocol is often called the most successful multilateral environmental agreement. Examine, with reference to the Kigali Amendment and India’s obligations under it. (250 words)”

The Mains framing. The Protocol’s success rests on three design features worth spelling out. First, a differentiated timetable for developed and developing countries, which the Kigali Amendment retains for HFCs. Second, a Multilateral Fund that finances Article 5 countries’ transition costs, the model that the climate regime has been trying to reproduce. Third, an institutional architecture, a Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, a Scientific Assessment Panel and an Environmental Effects Assessment Panel, that keeps the treaty’s decisions science-led rather than politically negotiated at every step. India’s ICAP applies this same design to the domestic cooling transition: growth in access, growth-decoupled emissions.

📌 Facts Corner, Knowledgepedia

Prelims-grade facts:

• World Ozone Day is observed on 16 September, commemorating the signing of the Montreal Protocol on 16 September 1987.
• The Vienna Convention was adopted in 1985; the Montreal Protocol entered into force on 1 January 1989.
• The Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol became the first treaties in UN history to achieve universal ratification, on 16 September 2009.
• The five formal amendments are London (1990), Copenhagen (1992), Montreal (1997), Beijing (1999) and Kigali (2016).
• The Kigali Amendment entered into force on 1 January 2019 and adds hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) to the phase-down list.
• India ratified the Kigali Amendment in September 2021.
• India is in Group 2 of Article 5 parties (with Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the Gulf states): baseline 2024-26, freeze in 2028, and 85 per cent reduction by 2047.
• Group 1 (developing countries including China): baseline 2020-22, freeze in 2024, 80 per cent reduction by 2045.
• Non-Article 5 (developed) parties: baseline 2011-13, reductions from 2019, 85 per cent by 2036.
• The India Cooling Action Plan was released in March 2019; India was the first country to publish one.
• Full Kigali implementation can avoid up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of warming by 2100.
• The 2026 theme is “Global Action for a Cooler Planet, Celebrating 10 years of Sustainable Cooling under the Kigali Amendment”.

Prelims-grade traps:

• HFCs are not ozone-depleting substances; they are potent greenhouse gases.
• Kigali is a phase-down of HFCs, not a phase-out.
• India is in Group 2 (freeze 2028, 85 per cent by 2047), not Group 1 with China (freeze 2024, 80 per cent by 2045).
• The Antarctic ozone hole was first identified in the early 1980s; the Protocol was signed in 1987.
• The Multilateral Fund under the Protocol is a Protocol instrument, not part of the UNFCCC.
• Stratospheric ozone protects; tropospheric ozone is a pollutant.

Mains, arguments and keywords:

• Universal ratification, differentiated timetable, Multilateral Fund financing.
• Science-led decision-making via the Assessment Panels.
• Cooling access as a development question; ICAP as India’s framework.
• Interaction with the climate regime; HFCs are a shared jurisdiction.
• Keywords: Vienna Convention, Montreal Protocol, Kigali Amendment, HFC, Article 5, Multilateral Fund, ICAP, GWP.

Interview, be ready for:

• “Why does the Kigali Amendment target HFCs, which do not deplete ozone?” Because they were introduced as ODS substitutes, and their high global warming potentials make them significant climate pollutants.
• “What is Article 5 in the Protocol?” It designates developing-country parties eligible for financial and technical assistance and a delayed phase-out timetable.
• “Why does India Cooling Action Plan matter internationally?” It provides a template for growing cooling access without proportional emissions growth, precisely the question the Kigali Amendment poses for developing countries.

Source: World Ozone Day 2026: Ten Years of the Kigali Amendment and the Cooling Question — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Current Affairs