MOP38: A Decade of the Kigali Amendment and the Return of Global Ozone and Climate Talks to Kigali
Rwanda's Minister of Environment, Dr. Bernadette Arakwiye
From 2 to 6 November 2026, Rwanda will host the Thirty-Eighth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, widely known as MOP38.
The gathering takes place at the Kigali Convention Centre and marks a symbolic homecoming: ten years after the same city hosted the negotiations that produced the Kigali Amendment in October 2016.
Up to 1,000 delegates from governments, international organizations, industry, scientific bodies, and civil society are expected to attend.
The Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987, remains one of the most effective international environmental agreements ever negotiated. It orchestrated the global phase-out of the vast majority of ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).
As a result, the ozone layer is on a path toward recovery, reducing risks of skin cancer, cataracts, and damage to ecosystems. The Protocol has also delivered significant climate co-benefits because many of the controlled substances were also powerful greenhouse gases.
The Kigali Amendment extended this success into the climate arena. It commits parties to a gradual phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), chemicals widely used in refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pumps. HFCs do not deplete ozone but possess extremely high global-warming potentials.
Full implementation is projected to avoid up to 0.5°C of global warming by the end of the century. When paired with improvements in the energy efficiency of cooling equipment, the climate benefits can be substantially larger. Growing demand for cooling—driven by rising temperatures, urbanization, and economic development—makes these transitions urgent for food security, vaccine and medicine storage, agricultural cold chains, and public health.
MOP38 is structured in two main segments. The preparatory segment runs from 2 to 4 November and handles detailed technical and policy negotiations. The high-level segment follows on 5 and 6 November, featuring ministerial statements, presentations from the assessment panels, and adoption of decisions.
Related meetings precede the main event: the seventy-seventh meeting of the Implementation Committee (30–31 October) and a Bureau meeting (31 October), along with a workshop on 1 November marking ten years of the Kigali Amendment.
Central agenda items include the replenishment of the Multilateral Fund for the 2027–2029 triennium, which finances implementation support for developing countries. Parties will also examine emissions of HFC-23, options for strengthening regional atmospheric monitoring of controlled substances, organizational issues within the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, compliance matters, the status of Kigali Amendment ratification, and institutional questions such as the participation of certain groups of states and the long-term viability of Protocol operations. Energy efficiency, sustainable cooling technologies, and access for low-volume-consuming countries remain recurring themes.
Beyond formal negotiations, Rwanda is organizing a program of activities focused on implementation and innovation. These include a technical workshop at the African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) covering technologies and skills development; an Innovation Exhibition at the Kigali Convention Centre showcasing climate-friendly cooling and cold-chain solutions for manufacturers, financiers, and partners; a Partnership Forum; and dedicated “Kigali Amendment at 10” events. The side program aims to connect high-level decisions with practical technologies, investment, and capacity-building on the ground.
Rwanda’s Environment Minister, Dr. Bernadette Arakwiye, has framed the meeting as both a celebration and a call for continued action: “Rwanda is proud to welcome the world back to Kigali, ten years after countries came together here to adopt the Kigali Amendment. MOP38 is an opportunity to recognise the progress made, while also looking at what more is needed to fully implement the commitments we made.
That means continuing the transition away from high-global-warming HFCs, improving the energy efficiency of cooling equipment, expanding access to sustainable cooling and encouraging all countries to join the Kigali Amendment. These actions can deliver important benefits for the climate, but also for food security, healthcare and economic development.”
Megumi Seki, Executive Secretary of the Ozone Secretariat, has emphasized the value of sustained cooperation: “The Montreal Protocol has demonstrated what sustained international cooperation can achieve. Ten years after the adoption of the Kigali Amendment, returning to Kigali gives Parties an opportunity to take stock of progress and strengthen implementation for the next decade. Continuing the HFC phasedown, improving energy efficiency and moving towards universal ratification of the Kigali Amendment will be important to realising its full climate benefits.”
For Rwanda and the wider African continent, MOP38 offers a platform to highlight practical pathways for sustainable cooling that address local needs while contributing to global goals. The country’s own Kigali Implementation Plan guides its HFC phase-down, and facilities such as ACES position it as a regional hub for technology testing, training, and cold-chain development. The meeting also serves as a reminder that the Protocol’s success has always depended on differentiated timelines, financial support through the Multilateral Fund, and technology transfer—principles that remain essential as parties chart the next decade of HFC reductions and efficiency gains.
As delegates return to the city where the Kigali Amendment was born, MOP38 will test whether the same spirit of pragmatic cooperation can deliver the funding, monitoring, and implementation tools needed to turn phase-down commitments into measurable reductions in super-pollutant emissions while expanding access to reliable, climate-friendly cooling.
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