The US Senate voted Wednesday to join more than 130 nations in pledging to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) through the Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol. The vote garnered bipartisan support and passed 69-27. A two-thirds majority is required for ratification.
The Montreal treaty was adopted in the 1980s to address the ozone depletion. The Kigali amendment expands on it by winding down the production and consumption of HFCs, by 85% over 15 years. Congress has already given the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to move forward with HFC reductions when it passed the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act in late 2020. EPA has since been working to implement the law and establish regulations to reduce the production and consumption of HFCs. With the AIM Act already in place, the ratification of the Kigali Amendment will have less practical impact on U.S. policies, but does send a signal to other countries that the United States is committed to HFC reduction and may reduce potential trade restrictions that could have been placed on U.S. manufacturers.
