Bipartisan backing for Kigali Amendment
29th April 2022
USA: A bipartisan group of seven US senators have written to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to encourage ratification of the Kigali Amendment to phase down HFCs.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is due to meet on May 4 to decide whether or not to recommend to the full Senate ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
The group, led by Democrat Chris Coons and Republican Susan Collins, insist that ratification of the amendment would help secure America’s place as a global leader in several manufacturing industries, and in turn give American products an advantage in the international marketplace.
“Ratification of the Kigali Amendment will sustain and expand the employment, investment, and trade benefits of the AIM Act, enacted in 2020,” the group writes. “American companies and workers are poised to significantly benefit from the transition to HFC substitutes.”
The group quotes figures from the University of Maryland’s InterIndustry Forecasting Project which estimates that implementation of the Kigali Amendment will add 33,000 new jobs and $12.5bn in direct output to the US economy, and generate a 25% increase in exports of US-made HVACR products.
“Failure to ratify this amendment could allow our competitors to reap these benefits and may lead other countries to place import restrictions on American products,” it says.
If the Foreign Relations Committee recommends ratification, as expected, the Amendment would then require 67 votes from the full Senate – or two thirds of those present and voting – to join the 130+ nations who have already ratified.
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