Government structures

After two years of virtual meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer were reunited at the forty-fourth Open-ended Working Group meeting in Bangkok, Thailand from 11-16 July 2022. The parties were happy to interact face-to-face again. While the agenda and workload were heavy, the positive energy with which the parties embarked the meeting was palpable.

When international refrigeration, AC, ventilation and heat pump experts flock to Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 11 to 13 October 2022, it will be the first reunion of this kind since 2018. Chillventa, the world’s leading trade fair for refrigeration technology, brings together the specialists and leading lights of the sector from all around the globe. In the eight exhibition halls, Chillventa CONGRESS on 10 October, and numerous events from the supporting programme, you will finally get the chance to make business contacts face-to-face again, discover trends and interesting solutions, and refresh your knowledge. The number of registrations received so far is excellent. The professional community can look forward to an exciting event with a first-class supporting and congress programme.

Research by BSRIA Worldwide Market Intelligence highlights the effect of inflation and the supply chain crisis on the air conditioning market. A generalised supply chain crisis is causing product shortages and longer lead times in commercial AC. This, combined with the demand surge, is generating an inflationary pressure and prices are rising in all the product categories. However, on the demand side, growth is expected to be steady throughout 2022. Exceptionally hot weather in the West of the US boosted sales in 2021.

The European FluoroCarbons Technical Committee (EFCTC), which represents refrigerant suppliers, has called for the EU to include a Europe-wide penalty regime in its proposals for policing F-Gas imports.

The dynamic in the UK has changed significantly since the pandemic, where it was still considered a commercially driven market, now the majority of multi-splits are sold into domestic. Single-splits remain mostly commercially driven, but here too the share of domestic has increased significantly.

In the Soft Launch on July 21 2022, the Climate and Ozone Protection Alliance will be introduced, followed by a panel discussion with various speakers sharing their views on the relevance of a global shift to sustainable refrigerant management. Speakers include representatives from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the COPA Secretariat, UNIDO, UNDP, government, private sector, academia and civil society.

Refrigerants market is expected to reach at USD 8.4 billion in 2027 at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period. The most used natural refrigerants are ammonia, carbon dioxide, and HCs such as propane and isobutene. Technological advancements in cooling equipment are replacing traditional refrigerants such as HCFC and HFC with natural ones. This has increased the market share of natural refrigerants in applications such as air conditioning, refrigeration, and heating systems.

The U.K. Climate Change Committee (CCC) has called for the U.K. government to “match or exceed” the level of increased ambition that will be adopted following the revision of the EU F-gas Regulation.

EFCTC says it now expects other EU countries to start using EU Single Window Environment for Customs to share vital information on refrigerant imports and F-Gas quotas.

The latest IIR Informatory Note outlines the options available for low-GWP refrigerants and their respective performance. It provides a series of recommendations on refrigerant selection criteria, research priorities and personnel training.

UN Environment Programme (UNEP) OzonAction organized a side event on “Women in Cooling – Challenges and Opportunities” on 11 July during the forty-fourth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. This forum, the first of its kind, initiated a discussion about the context of women in cooling worldwide including the challenges they face in their careers, previewed an important global survey on this subject, and presented a new global initiative to support opportunities for women, more engagement and visibility within the cooling sector. The side event is part of a broader discussion that UNEP OzonAction is having both internally and with its partners on how to further incorporate gender mainstreaming into the work of the Montreal Protocol. The meeting was well attended by 93 participants (female 55, male 38).

The U.S. supermarket sector continues to “inexcusably lag behind European counterparts,” says the Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIA), an international NGO, based on analysis conducted for its latest Climate-Friendly Supermarket Scorecard.

Green group the EIA and refrigerant producers body EFCTC have both called for similar measures to thwart the illegal trade in F-gases in Europe.

The high GWP refrigerants R134a, R404A, and R410A have experienced considerable increases in Europe over the last 12 months, according to the latest report by Öko-Recherche.

Congratulations to the latest countries which have ratified the Kigali Amendment.

Twenty-seven people have been arrested and 110 tonnes of refrigerant seized in an operation which has seen the dismantling of a major criminal organisation in Spain.

UNDP provides refrigeration and air conditioning technicians with modern equipment

Laura Berón, Coordinator of the National Ozone Unit, and Graciela Garau, Technical Consultant at the National Ozone Unit of Argentina, on the technician training and certification programme in Argentina.

On the 15th of June, 2022 the Tonga – [Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications (MEIDECC)], Department of Climate Change hosted a meeting with the advisory committee for ozone layer protection. The objectives of the meeting is to oversee Tonga’s obligations to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer as well as ensuring that all implemented and planned activities of the National Ozone Unit (NOU) is aligned with the provisions of the Ozone Layer Protection Act 2021.

At a side session held during the 2022 AHR Expo in Las Vegas, Gill announced that Cooling Matters would be the day’s 2022 theme. “Our objective is to make the public aware of cooling’s essential benefits, how cooling impacts daily life, and how technology choices foster environmental well-being of future generations.” World Refrigeration Day is celebrated on and around June 26.