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1 1 (March 23, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govefln0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SQ Congressional *. Research Service Stratospheric Ozone Treaties and the Kigali Amendment: Ratification Considerations March 23, 2022 For at least four decades, the United States has been engaged in global efforts to protect the earth's stratospheric ozone layer. The stratospheric ozone layer absorbs ultraviolet solar radiation that can otherwise result in increased risks of skin cancers, cataracts, and harm to agricultural crops and marine life. Global measures to restore stratospheric ozone include the framework Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, ratified with Senate consent in 1986, and its affiliated Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, ratified with Senate consent in 1988. Both treaties have universal membership of all United Nations member and observer states. Consistent with their Montreal Protocol obligations, countries have effectively reduced ozone-depleting substances. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the atmospheric levels of nearly all substances subject to the Montreal Protocol have declined substantially in the past two decades, resulting in improvements to the ozone layer. However, some of the chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which emerged in the 2000s as substitutes for some of the regulated ozone- damaging substances, are greenhouse gases many times more potent than carbon dioxide. To address HFC emissions, in 2016, countries adopted the fifth amendment to the Montreal Protocol in Kigali, Rwanda (the Kigali Amendment). The Kigali Amendment adds HFCs as a new class of substances subject to control measures and requires their gradual phasedown. In 2020, Congress passed the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM Act) to limit HFCs. In 2021, the President submitted the Kigali Amendment to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification. This Legal Sidebar addresses the context, content, and legal implications of possible ratification of the Kigali Amendment. Background: Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol The United States is an original signatory to the Vienna Convention, which was ratified in 1986 with the advice and consent of the Senate. As a framework instrument, the Vienna Convention sets forth expectations of its member countries, such as meeting regularly and making subsequent global decisions for ozone protection, cooperating with other countries to conduct research and assessments, exchanging information, and adopting appropriate measures to protect the ozone layer. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports. congress.gov LSB10712 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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