Post‑meeting summary of part I of the 89th meeting of the Executive Committee
I. Introduction
The first part of the 89th meeting of the Executive Committee took place online on 16, 18 and 20 May 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was attended by the representatives of the 14 Executive Committee member countries and participants co‑opted from 32 other countries. Mr. Hassan Ali Mubarak of Bahrain presided as Chair of the Executive Committee during the meeting. Representatives of implementing agencies (IAs), the Treasurer and the Executive Secretary of the Ozone Secretariat participated as observers. The President and Vice-President of the Implementation Committee and members of the task force on the replenishment of the Multilateral Fund of the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP), representatives of the Environmental Investigation Agency, the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Refrigerant Gas Manufacturers’ Association of India also attended as observers.
The agenda for the first part of the 89th meeting included the following items: Secretariat activities, with a focus on the 2019 assessment of the Multilateral Fund by the Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN); the review of institutional strengthening projects, including funding levels; and the analysis of the level and modalities of funding for HFC phase-down in the refrigeration servicing sector.
II. MOPAN assessment (decision 89/1)
The Chair noted that the usual report on Secretariat activities would be combined with the report for the 90th meeting and at the present meeting, the Committee would consider only the report on Secretariat activities relating to the 2019 Assessment of the Multilateral Fund by MOPAN, contained in document UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/89/2/Add.1. The Chief Officer presented the document setting out the Secretariat’s revised observations and suggestions on the five areas for improvement referred to in the MOPAN assessment, namely the evaluation function; results framework; information and communications function; gender equality; and sustainability. The document reflected the previous discussion and comments made by members during the intersessional approval process for the 88th meeting. The Executive Committee, after its consideration of the proposed recommendation, decided to request the Senior Monitoring and Evaluation officer to include actions to enhance the evaluation function in the monitoring and evaluation work programme for 2023; to request the Secretariat to develop a results framework and a scorecard for consideration of the Committee at its 92nd meeting; to update the information strategy of the Multilateral Fund including a plan for a knowledge management system for consideration at the 91st meeting; to explore opportunities to further highlight how the sustainability of activities would be ensured and report on this matter to the 91st meeting; and to also prepare a draft management response from the Executive Committee to the MOPAN Secretariat.
III. Review of institutional strengthening projects, including funding levels (decision 74/51(d))
The Executive Committee considered policy matters relating to institutional strengthening (IS) projects, including funding levels. The Secretariat introduced document UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/89/4, and recalled that it had been prepared, in response to decision 74/51(d), for consideration at the 86th meeting in 2020, a discussion that has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The document presented a review of IS projects and their related activities, addressing challenges linked to the Kigali Amendment; assessed the relevance of such support in contributing to the compliance of Article 5 Parties with the Montreal Protocol control measures; set out the range of activities that national ozone units had to undertake to achieve the HCFC and HFC control measures between 2020 and 2030; and reviewed the format and the performance indicators for reporting on IS that had been agreed on at the 74th meeting. A contact group was then established to further discuss the document and its draft recommendation.
Several members agreed that the duration of the renewal of IS projects be extended from two to three years but without agreeing on when that change should take effect. The timing for the review of the reporting format and indicators and for the next review of IS was also discussed. The contact group also deliberated on the level of funding, which also needed further consideration. Other views expressed by the members of the contact group were the urgency of agreeing on the funding level; that funding should be provided on the basis of countries’ compliance commitments; and that the proposal of a package of all elements should be considered. The Executive Committee agreed to continue discussing the review of IS projects, including funding levels, at the second part of the 89th meeting on the basis of the working text contained in the annex to the meeting report, which had been agreed by the contact group and was based on the recommendation proposed by the Secretariat in paragraph 46 of document UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/89/4.
IV. Analysis of the level and modalities of funding for HFC phase‑down in the refrigeration servicing sector (decision 88/76)
The Secretariat introduced document UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/89/8 on the level and modalities of funding for HFC phase-down in the refrigeration sector. Following the discussions of the contact group established by the Executive Committee, the outcomes of the discussions were recorded in the report of the meeting to serve as the basis for further discussions in the second part of the 89th meeting. There had been overall agreement that consideration of the request by the parties under paragraph 16 of decision XXVIII/2, relating to the introduction of alternatives to HCFCs with low- and/or zero-GWP refrigerants and maintenance of energy efficiency in the servicing/end-user sector, would be removed from the discussion under the present agenda item and be continued under agenda item 7(f) on energy efficiency and that the overall value of funding allocated for the servicing sector for all countries would be further discussed on the basis of the third modality proposed in the document, as well as on additional information requested by the Secretariat on ways to categorize non-low volume consuming countries based on their consumption levels. While there had also been a common understanding of the need to capitalize on existing infrastructure, several Article 5 countries emphasized the additional efforts and activities required as a result of HFC phase-down and that those efforts should be accounted for in the agreed funding. It had also been proposed that funding levels be reviewed, possibly in 2025, once HFC baselines were known, to determine how funding could be adjusted based on HFC consumption levels.
V. Report of part I of the 89th meeting
A complete record of all discussions, decisions and agreements reached at the first part of the 89th meeting can be found on the meeting page.