On November 3, 2022, the EPA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking designed to implement the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol following the Senate’s bipartisan ratification in September of 2022. The Kigali Amendment is a global agreement to phase down climate-damaging hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and avoid up to 0.5°C of global warming by the end of this century.
The proposed rules would amend existing regulations to implement certain provisions of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, as enacted on December 27, 2020. This rulemaking proposes to establish the methodology for allocating HFC production and consumption allowances for the calendar years of 2024 through 2028. EPA is also proposing to amend the consumption baseline to reflect updated data and to make other adjustments based on lessons learned from implementation of the HFC phasedown program thus far, including proposing to: codify the existing approach of how allowances must be expended for import of regulated substances; revise recordkeeping and reporting requirements; and implement other modifications to the existing regulations.
The EPA is accepting comments until December 19, 2022.