1974

Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina (later to share the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Paul Crutzen) link the emission of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in industry to the destruction of ozone in the atmosphere.

1977

United Nations Environment Programme initiates the World Plan of Action on the Ozone Layer.

1985

Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer establishes principle of international cooperation on ozone destruction, stressing the need to cooperate in research and monitoring, to share information on CFC production and emissions, and to pass control protocols if and when warranted. For the first time, nations agree in principle to tackle a global environmental problem before its effects are clear, or its existence scientifically proven the first example of the acceptance of the precautionary principle in a major international negotiation.

1985

Ozone hole first detected over the Antarctic.

1987

Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer ratified. It requires countries to reduce levels of production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) according to an agreed schedule.

1989

Helsinki Declaration adopted at the first meeting of the parties to the Protocol includes a commitment to facilitate the access of developing countries to relevant scientific information, research results and training and to seek to develop appropriate funding mechanisms to facilitate the transfer of technology and replacement of equipment at minimum cost to developing countries.

1990

Second Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, the London Meeting, agrees on the total phase-out of CFCs and halons. The London Meeting also agrees to facilitate the transfer of new ozone-friendly technologies for Article 5 countries and to establish an Interim Multilateral Fund to assist these Parties (developing country Parties whose consumption of ODS is less than the 0.3 kg per person per year specified by Article 5 of the Protocol); it sets the first allocation for the Fund for 1991-93 at US$160 million, with an additional US$80 million to be made available if more developing countries became Parties.

1991

Interim Multilateral Fund established on 1 January with its Secretariat located in Montreal, Canada.

1991

UNDP, UNEP and the World Bank become implementing agencies of the Fund.

1992

UNIDO becomes an Implementing Agency of the Fund.

1992

Copenhagen Amendment adds hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrobromofluorocarbons (HBFCs), and methyl bromide to the phase-out schedules and formally creates the Multilateral Fund.

1994

Multilateral Fund established on a permanent basis.

1994

Replenishment of the Fund for 1994-96 set at US$455 million.

1995

Precise control schedules agreed for Article 5 parties, with most substances being scheduled for phase-out by 2010.

1996

Replenishment of the Fund for 1997-99 set at US$466 million.

1997

Adoption of the idea of support for sectoral strategies; two years later US$62 million is agreed to phase out production and consumption of halons in China by 2010.

1997

Montreal Amendment creates a system of licenses for imports and exports of ODS, mainly in order to tackle the growing illegal trade in the substances.

1999

The compliance period begins for Article 5 Parties (developing countries) with the first control measure a freeze, at the average of 1995-97 levels, of production and consumption of CFCs starting on 1 July 1999.

1999

Beijing Amendment adds bromochloromethane to the phase-out schedules and extended the controls on HCFCs to production in addition to the revised controls on consumption.

1999

2002

2002

2005

Reduction by 50 per cent consumption and production of CFCs and halons, 85 per cent of CTC, 30 per cent of TCA, and 20 per cent of methyl bromide in developing countries

2005

Replenishment of the Fund for 2006-2008 set at US$400.4 million

2007

Reduction by 85 per cent consumption and production of CFCs in developing countries

2007

2008

The Executive Committee approved guidelines to assist each country to prepare an HCFC phase-out management plan (HPMP)

2008

Replenishment of the Fund for 2009-2011 set at US $400 million

2010

At its 60th meeting, the Executive Committee approved the first two HCFC phase-out management plans (HPMPs) for Maldives and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

2010

Executive Committee agrees HCFC project guidelines that set out the eligibility and criteria for funding to enable countries to comply with the Montreal Protocol’s HCFC phase-out timetable

2010

Total phase-out of CFCs, halons and carbon tetrachloride in developing countries.

2010

Replenishment of the Fund for 2012-2014 set at US $400 million.

2012

25th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol.

2013

Freeze, at the baseline level, of the consumption and production of HCFCs in developing countries.

Replenishment of the Fund for 2015-2017 set at US $437 million

2015

2016

Total phase-out of methyl chloroform and methyl bromide, and reduction by 10 per cent of consumption and production of HCFCs from the baseline level in developing countries.

Parties adopt the Kigali Amendment, agreeing to phase down the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by more than 80 percent over the next 30 years.

2017

2019

Replenishment of the Fund for 2018-2020 set at US $500 million.

The Kigali Amendment entered into force.

2022

Replenishment of the Fund for 2021-2023 set at US $540 million.