Download Potential areas of focus for the 2018 quadrennial reports of the

UNEP/OzL.Pro.WG.1/36/CRP.2
United Nations
Environment
Programme
22 July 2015
Original: English
Open-ended Working Group of the Parties to
the Montreal Protocol on Substances that
Deplete the Ozone Layer
Thirty-sixth meeting
Paris, 20–24 July 2015
Agenda item 11
Potential areas of focus for the assessment panels’
2018 quadrennial reports
Draft Decision XXVII/[…]: Potential areas of focus for the 2018
quadrennial reports of the Scientific Assessment Panel, the
Environmental Effects Assessment Panel and the Technology
and Economic Assessment Panel
Submission by the European Union and Switzerland
The Twenty-seventh Meeting of the Parties decides:
1.
To note with appreciation the excellent and highly useful work conducted by the
Scientific Assessment Panel, the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel and the Technology and
Economic Assessment Panel in preparing their 2014 assessment reports, including the 2015 synthesis
report;
2.
To request the three assessment panels to update their 2014 reports in 2018 and submit
them to the Secretariat by 31 December 2018 for consideration by the Open-ended Working Group
and by the Thirty-first Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in 2019, noting that the panels
should exchange information during the process of developing their respective reports in order to
provide consistent information to the parties;
3.
To encourage the assessment panels to more closely involve relevant scientists from
Article 5 countries, as well as achieve gender and geographic balance [in line with decision
[XXIV/8 para 2.1.1]] in the work of producing the updates;
4.
To request the assessment panels to keep the parties to the Montreal Protocol informed
of any important new developments;
5.
To request the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel, in drafting its 2018 report, to
consider the most recent scientific information regarding the effects on human health and the
environment of changes in the ozone layer and in ultraviolet radiation, including:
(a)
The effects of ultraviolet radiation reaching the biosphere and how such effects relate
to physical, biological and environmental processes;
(b)
K1502290
220715
The effects of ultraviolet radiation on:
(i)
Human health, including cancers, eye damage and infectious and other
diseases, and the beneficial effects of ultraviolet radiation;
(ii)
The biodiversity and functioning of ecosystems, including the delivery of
ecosystem services, such as food production;
(iii)
Materials, including materials used in construction;
(c)
The risks to human health and the environment posed by substances that affect the
ozone layer, their alternatives and their respective degradation products;
6.
matters:
To request the Scientific Assessment Panel to include in its 2018 report, among other
(a)
An assessment of the state of the ozone layer and its future evolution, including in
respect of atmospheric changes from, for example, sudden stratospheric warming or accelerated
Brewer Dobson circulation;
(b)
An evaluation of the Antarctic ozone hole and Arctic winter/spring ozone depletion
and the predicted changes in these phenomena, with particular focus on temperatures in the polar
stratosphere;
(c)
An evaluation of trends in the concentration in the atmosphere of ozone-depleting
substances and alternatives to ozone-depleting substances and their consistency with reported
production and consumption, together with available emission data relating to such substances and the
likely implications for the state of the ozone layer and the climate;
(d)
An assessment of the interaction between changes in the ozone layer and climate
change; including:
(i)
The effect of polar ozone depletion on tropospheric climate;
(ii)
The effects of atmosphere-ocean coupling;
(e)
A description and an interpretation of observed ozone changes and ultraviolet
radiation, together with future projections and scenarios for those variables, taking into account,
among other things, the expected impacts of climate change, including of clouds, aerosols and sun
flux;
(f)
An assessment of the effects of ozone-depleting substances, very-short-lived
substances and non-controlled substances with ozone depletion potential, including potential
replacements for such substances, and respective degradation products, on the ozone layer and on
other components of the Earth’s environment, including a consolidated list of such substances, their
ozone-depletion potential, their global-warming potential and their relative abundance in the
atmosphere, noting that assessments should use consistent units and consistent terminology throughout
for better comparability;
(g)
Estimates of the levels of ozone layer depletion related to several residual levels of
global emissions of ozone-depleting substances and an indication of the level of global emissions of
ozone-depleting substances below which the depletion of the ozone layer could be considered as
insignificant;
(h)
The identification and reporting, as appropriate, on any other threats to the ozone layer,
including an assessment of the effect of recent volcanic activities and of possible geo-engineering;
7.
To request Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, in its 2018 report, to consider
the following topics, among others:
(a)
The impact of the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances on sustainable
development;
(b)
Technical progress in the production and consumption sectors in the transition to
alternatives and practices that eliminate or minimize emissions to the atmosphere of ozone-depleting
substances;
(c)
The resulting impacts on the environment, including climate-relevant emissions;
(d)
Technically and economically feasible choices for the reduction and elimination of
ozone-depleting substances in all relevant sectors, including through the use of alternatives, taking into
account their performance and their impact on the environment, including on climate, and technically
and economically feasible alternatives to ozone-depleting substances in consumption sectors, taking
into account their overall performance;
2
UNEP/OzL.Pro.WG.1/36/CRP.2
(e)
The status of banks containing ozone-depleting substances and relevant alternative
substances, including those maintained for essential and critical uses, and the options available for
handling them;
(f)
Accounting for the production and consumption in various applications and relevant
sources of ozone-depleting substances, including hydrofluorocarbons.
3