CIAO DATE: 09/2010
August 2010
Peterson Institute for International Economics
The 1987 Montreal Protocol to the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer was a pivotal agreement in the history of global environmental negotiations. It established a process that remains an important precedent for dealing with global environmental problems, including global warming. What made the negotiation of that agreement such an iconic event, and what useful lessons does it hold for climate change negotiators? The Montreal Protocol and its amendments addressed the challenge of a deteriorating stratospheric ozone layer that threatened to expose life on earth to greatly increased and damaging levels of ultraviolet radiation. The protocol initially called for a 50 percent reduction by 1999 in the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which had been identified as the principal cause of ozone layer deterioration. The agreement also set up a procedure for regularly reviewing and revising its provisions at subsequent Conferences of the Parties (COPs). These “review and revise” meetings led over the following decade to amendments that broadened the scope of controlled ozone-depleting substances and set earlier dates for fully phasing them out. The parties also established a Montreal Protocol Fund to assist developing countries with meeting their obligations under the protocol.
Resource link: The Road to Climate Change Agreement Runs Through Montreal [PDF] - 223K