Kuwait and UNDP Deepen Cooperation on Ozone Protection & Climate Action

Kuwait and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have signed a new cooperation agreement, marking a strategic milestone in Kuwait’s transition under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. The agreement, announced on International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer 2025, underscores Kuwait’s commitment to enhance its climate and environmental agenda.

Under the pact, Kuwait will develop a national roadmap to phase down high-global-warming-potential (GWP) hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), boost energy efficiency, and upgrade its regulatory and policy framework for sustainable cooling.

Already, Kuwait has reduced its consumption of ozone-damaging cooling gases by nearly 65 % from baseline levels, in line with its Montreal Protocol obligations. The new agreement aims to build on this progress, strengthening both environmental protection and public health outcomes.

The Kigali Amendment matters more than its technical framing suggests. HFCs, while used in smaller volumes than CO2, have global warming potentials thousands of times higher - meaning their phase-down delivers disproportionately large near-term climate benefits. The Montreal Protocol architecture, extended by Kigali to HFCs, remains one of the most consistently effective multilateral environmental agreements globally.

Kuwait's 65 percent reduction on ozone-depleting substances demonstrates the compliance capability now being redirected toward HFCs. The Gulf's high cooling load - driven by climate, urbanisation and industrial growth - makes efficient, low-GWP cooling technology a strategically important sector, both for domestic emissions reduction and as a regional export opportunity.

For companies with material refrigeration and air-conditioning exposure - cold-chain logistics, food retail, data centres, industrial process cooling - the transition affects capex planning, product design and Scope 1 emissions reporting. Cognitud's climate action and data and digital teams help clients plan refrigerant transitions, model total-cost-of-ownership for low-GWP alternatives, and integrate refrigerant-related emissions into ISSB- and TCFD-aligned disclosures.