Kigali Amendment Turns 10: How Cutting HFCs Helps India's Cooling Needs and Climate Goals
October 2026 marks 10 years since countries adopted the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol in Kigali, Rwanda, in October 2016. Under it, countries agreed to slowly cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), gases used in air conditioners (ACs) and refrigerators.
HFCs do not harm the ozone layer, but they trap heat very strongly. Some HFCs trap thousands of times more heat than the same amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂).
Research shared by the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD), and the UN-backed scientific assessment of ozone depletion, says full implementation of Kigali could avoid about 0.3°C to 0.5°C of global warming by 2100.
India ratified (formally accepted) the Kigali Amendment in September 2021 and finalised its National Strategy for HFC phase-down in 2023.
Cooling already uses a little over one-tenth of India's yearly electricity demand, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). India's cooling demand is projected to more than double by 2035 under current policies.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the IEA estimate that moving away from HFCs and making cooling machines more energy-efficient at the same time could roughly double the climate benefit.
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
The Montreal Protocol is a global treaty that protects the ozone layer, a thin shield of ozone gas high up in the sky. It does this by making countries stop producing and using man-made chemicals that destroy ozone, such as CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and halons. It was signed on 16 September 1987 and came into force on 1 January 1989. It is widely called the most successful environmental treaty in history, because every country in the world has joined it and it has actually worked.
The Kigali Amendment, now 10 years old, is the latest and biggest extension of the Montreal Protocol. Its success depends on the same tools the Protocol has used since 1987: binding timetables, extra time for developing countries like India, and money from the Multilateral Fund to change technology.
Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol: HFC Phase-Down
The Kigali Amendment is a 2016 addition to the Montreal Protocol. It makes countries gradually cut the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the gases now used in most ACs and refrigerators. HFCs do not harm the ozone layer, but they are very strong greenhouse gases. The amendment was adopted on 15 October 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda, and came into force on 1 January 2019. It is legally binding on countries that ratify it.
The 10th anniversary is a check on whether the Kigali plan is working. For India, the freeze arrives in 2028, so the choices it makes now about refrigerants, appliance standards and technician training will decide how cheaply and smoothly it meets its targets.
India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP)
The India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) is a long-term government plan to give everyone in India access to cooling while using less energy and fewer harmful refrigerant gases. It was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in March 2019. It looks 20 years ahead, from 2017-18 to 2037-38. India was one of the first countries in the world to make such a complete cooling plan.
The news stresses that India's cooling demand could more than double by 2035 and that better efficiency could double the climate gains of Kigali. ICAP is India's existing plan to do exactly that: cut refrigerant use and cooling energy together.
Global Warming Potential (GWP): Comparing the Warming Power of Gases
Global Warming Potential, or GWP, is a number that tells us how much heat a gas traps in the atmosphere compared with carbon dioxide (CO₂). CO₂ is the measuring stick, so its GWP is always 1. If a gas has a GWP of 1,000, then releasing 1 kg of it warms the Earth as much as releasing 1,000 kg of CO₂ over the same period. The period most often used is 100 years.
The Kigali Amendment, now 10 years old, works by cutting HFCs measured in CO₂-equivalent, which is calculated with GWP values. This is why India's cooling choices matter so much: switching an AC from a gas with a GWP of about 2,000 to one with a GWP of about 3 cuts its climate harm from leaks almost completely.
- Kigali Amendment adopted 15 October 2016 at MOP28, Kigali, Rwanda; in force 1 January 2019
- Full implementation could avoid about 0.3°C to 0.5°C of warming by 2100
- 174 of 198 Montreal Protocol parties had ratified Kigali as of August 2026
- India ratified Kigali in September 2021; National Strategy for HFC phase-down finalised in 2023
- India (Group 2): baseline 2024–2026, freeze 2028, 85% cut by 2047
- Montreal Protocol: signed 16 September 1987, in force 1 January 1989; Multilateral Fund set up 1990, working since 1991
- Ozone layer projected to recover over Antarctica by 2066
- India Cooling Action Plan (2019): cut cooling demand 20%–25%, refrigerant demand 25%–30%, cooling energy 25%–40% by 2037-38
- Cooling is a little over one-tenth of India's yearly electricity demand (IEA)
- GWP (100-year) compares a gas's warming with CO₂ (= 1); Kigali uses IPCC AR4 values (HFC-134a 1,430; HFC-23 14,800)