The Union Cabinet of India, chaired by Shri Narendra Modi, the prime minister, has given its approval for the ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

The move by India will provide a huge boost to the Kigali Amendment which commits countries to cutting the production and consumption of HFCs by more than 80% over the next 30 years. India’s economy is growing rapidly and, along with China and United States is seen as one of the world’s highest current and potential HFC emitting countries. China recently ratified the Kigali Amendment and the US administration under president Biden has indicated it will also ratify.

India will complete its phase down of HFCs in four steps from 2032 onwards with cumulative reduction of 10% in 2032, 20% in 2037, 30% in 2042 and 80% in 2047.

India has been moving forward to implement the India Cooling Action Plan, which embodies the Kigali Amendment’s goals to phase down HFCs and reduce cooling demand. The Action Plan, which was published in 2019, aims to reduce refrigerant demand by 25-30% by 2037 and train and certify 100,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23.