This year marks an important milestone: the 10th anniversary of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.  

 The Amendment stands as one of the most impactful climate agreements in history.  

China ratified the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol in June 2021 and it officially entered into force in September 2021. 

As of 2024, 163 parties (162 nations plus the European Union) have ratified the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. 

Fully ratifying and implementing the Kigali Amendment could avoid up to 0.5°C of warming by the year 2100.  

Today, we gather not only to reflect on progress, but also to consider the path forward for the next ten years. 

Ladies and gentlemen, 

The past 11 years have been the warmest on record, with 2024 the hottest year ever recorded and last year ranking as the third hottest[i][ii].

That’s why delivering on the objectives set out in the Montreal Protocol is more important than ever. 

It is precisely for this reason, UNDP has been working with our sister UN agencies and partners around the world to achieve this. 

In China, UNDP has played a key role in supporting the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) in the Industrial and Commercial Refrigeration and Air Conditioning sector.  

Over the past 35 years, we have worked closely with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and its Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center (FECO) to phase out ODS. 

In recent years, under the Kigali Amendment framework, we have worked closely to jointly address the challenges posed by refrigerants with high Global Warming Potential hydrofluorocarbons. 

As China enters the final phase of the second stage of its compliance journey, having achieved 67.5% of its phase-out target, we are pleased to see that the work is progressing steadily. 

This is a testament of the strong collaboration and commitment of FECO, China Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Industry Association, industry enterprises and academic institutions to ensure we keep the commitments on track. 

The recently concluded Two Sessions have laid out a clear roadmap for China’s green transition.  

The Government Work Report explicitly calls for coordinated efforts to reduce carbon emissions, cut pollution, expand green development, and promote growth, with a target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by approximately 3.8 percent. 

On behalf of UNDP, we look forward to working closely with all stakeholders to achieve these targets.  

For this afternoon, allow me to share two perspectives for our discussion.  

First, the strengthening of legal safeguards.  

China’s newly adopted Ecological and Environment Code includes a section on green and low-carbon development. 

It provides a stronger legal foundation for greener production and consumption, particularly relevant to the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry, where long-term progress depends not only on technological change, but also on a supportive and predictable policy environment. 

Second, stronger market incentives and financing industrial transformation.  

To achieve the ambitions of the Kigali Amendment, financing and market incentives are critical to be put in place to shift private capital and industrial production away from refrigerants with high-Global Warming Potential (GWP) toward climate-friendly alternatives. 

The continued implementation of China’s 2026 equipment renewal and consumer trade-in policy, including subsidies for high-efficiency, energy-saving air conditioners, is essential to accelerate the replacement of older equipment and drive greener consumption in the cooling sector. 

Underlying this industrial transformation and transition is also the critical importance of the private sector to redirect R&D and capital investment into low-GWP refrigerants and energy-efficient cooling technologies.