Hon Chairperson, as Cope understands it, the Montreal Protocol was adopted with a view to reducing the production and consumption of ozone depleting substances, in order to protect the earth's fragile ozone layer. Chairperson, Africa and South Africa in particular, are particularly sensitive to climate change and to the effects of climate change on our drive to address poverty.
Cope supports Parliament's adoption of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol in terms of which the United States of America, USA, and European Union, EU, countries will reduce the production and consumption of HFCs from 2019, and much of the rest of the world including all of Africa, will freeze the use of HFCs by 2024. Cope is of the view that the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol is an important step in the fight