EIA Briefing to the 47th Meeting the Open-ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, 7-11 July 2025. As the climate crisis intensifies and threats to the ozone layer continue to mount, there are multiple urgent issues before Parties at the 47th Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG47) of the Montreal Protocol.
This report analyses the climate impact of supermarket refrigeration, revealing that up to 70 per cent of a supermarket’s non-supply chain emissions stem from cooling – primarily from energy consumption and the use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, potent greenhouse gases.
Launched at CoP26 in 2021, the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) is the first global initiative focused on reducing emissions of methane - a super-pollutant responsible for about one-third of current warming.
Cumulative HFC-23 emissions since the adoption of the Kigali Amendment in 2016 are almost 106,000 tonnes, equivalent to 1.56 billion tonnes of CO2. A strong response from the Parties to the Montreal Protocol is required.
If the UK intends to uphold its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and demonstrate climate leadership, fast action on climate super-pollutants must be prioritised.
Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas (GHG), around 80 times more powerful than carbon-dioxide (CO2) over a 20-year period, and is responsible for a third of the global warming experienced to date. More than half of global methane emissions are anthropogenic, produced primarily by the agriculture sector (animal husbandry, land use), the waste sector (landfills and wastewater) and the energy sector (extraction and transport of fossil fuels).