The Kigali Amendment is one of the most important subjects in the field of energy efficiency today. It was no surprise that it played a leading role in a live session with the Environmentalist Parliamentary Front, which narrated its importance and current status in Congress. There is also a publication designed for the general public and prepared by Engajamundo. It explains the history of the Montreal Protocol, which is an international treaty that was created to warn about the substances that deplete the ozone layer, and how the Kigali Amendment includes a new category of substances that should be included in the protocol: these are the hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which contribute directly to climate change, with an effect that is 2000 times more intense than CO2.
What the Amendment proposes is precisely a planning for the transition to the modernization of equipment, using other refrigerant gases or other refrigeration technologies. If the scenario proposed by Kigali is achieved, the outcome will be a reduction of 0.75 °C in the predicted average global increase of temperature. With greater energy efficiency, there are more savings as well. In Brazil, since the approvals in the commissions of the Chamber of Deputies, the Kigali Amendment has been awaiting its deliberation in the House since 2019.
“The Kigali Amendment is one of the only treaties about the climate that has a consensus among the interested actors about its importance and win-win character for Brazil. The organizations that compose the Kigali Network are working in partnership with the association from the sector of refrigeration and air conditioning – ABRAVA – in order to convince the deputies to approve the Amendment. However, despite this consensus and all the coordination of these actors, the Amendment has been on the table of the President of the Chamber for almost 2 years for inclusion in the Plenary of the Chamber It is a delay without any justification. The climate loses, the national industry loses, energy efficiency loses and Brazil loses,” explains Kamyla Borges, coordinator of the iCS Efficiency Initiative.
