The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) OzonAction invites you to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March 2020. The theme for this year is: “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”. This celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
One important area where women are poised to make an even greater contribution to both workforce equality and 
preparedness for post-COVID world is in refrigeration and air conditioning. This industry is responsible for manufacturing, fitting, and servicing the equipment that cools our homes, offices, and vehicles, keeps our food fresh and preserves our vaccines. Keeping vaccines at optimum temperatures with suitable refrigeration equipment is critical for the COVID-19 recovery effort, as is ensuring proper ventilation and air flow to keep our homes, workplaces, and restaurants safe from the virus.
Women business owners, engineers, technicians, trainers, and professors are increasingly working in this traditionally male-dominated field and making tremendous contributions to its professional development. They can play a much greater role in the future. UNEP OzonAction with its partners continues to shine a spotlight on the largely untold story of women working in this sector.
The women and men who work in refrigeration and air conditioning are one of the key success factors for the
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, an international environmental treaty which has been universally ratified by all UN Member States. The Protocol has a specific interest in refrigeration and air-conditioning since it accounts for the largest consumption of both ozone-depleting chemicals, notably hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and their replacements, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Collectively, these two substances are the most commonly-used gases used in refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment. Most of these HCFCs and HFCs have global warming potentials (GWPs) that are in the range of 1,000 to 4,000 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, which make them harmful for the climate.
The women in refrigeration and air conditioning are contributing to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, their work contributes to gender equality and empowering women and girls (SDG 5); to combatting climate change (SDG 13) by making the transition away from both ozone depleting substances and chemicals with high GWPs; to achieving food security, improved nutrition and sustainable food systems (SDGs 2 and 12); to ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being (SDG 3); and to sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth (SDG 8).
OzonAction encourages and facilitates the empowerment of women in the context of the implementation of 
the Montreal Protocol. In cooperation with UN Women, we collected and published over 100 stories of women excelling in refrigeration and air-conditioning professions from all around the world. OzonAction organised special training and orientation events for National Ozone Officers (government officials) in developing countries to support Gender Mainstreaming Policy of the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol and ensure that local ozone programs and projects are being implemented with gender aspects in consideration. Our program is currently partnering with key international industry associations to campaign for better career opportunities for women in the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry, with special programs and tools to be released in 2021.
UNEP OzonAction is proud to raise awareness of the opportunities available to women and recognise their successes in the refrigeration and air-conditioning industries. We encourage you to join us by celebrating International Women’s Day, encouraging more women to consider careers in refrigeration and air conditioning, and sharing inspiring stories from your countries about women in this field, which we may share through our clearinghouse.
For more information:
Publication: UNEP OzonAction-UN Women. Women in the Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Industry: Personal Experiences and Achievements, available here
Experiences: We publish weekly stories from developing countries about successful Women in the Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Industry. Click HERE to access the latest stories from Nicaragua and Niger.
For general information: International Women’s Day 2021
