News

Ciudad del Saber, Panama, 14 December ‒  Society has changed since the 1960s, and the rights of women, in many aspects, are gradually being taken into consideration. Even in the traditionally male-dominated refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) sector, the number of female engineers, technicians, trainers, practitioners and professors is steadily increasing.

Bangkok, Thailand, 25 November 2020 ‒ Article 5 countries continue to meet their obligations under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. However, they have been facing more challenges with the implementation of this treaty during the COVID-19 crisis. Starting from 1 January 2020, Article 5 countries must phase-out 35% of their hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) baseline consumptions from their HCFC consumption, in conjunction with the need to prepare themselves for the hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phase-down under the Protocol's Kigali Amendment.

Paris, France, 26 November 2020 ‒ The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) OzonAction held two very relevant and timely side events as part of the 32nd Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. Due to the constraints on holding large meetings and travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, these side events were held online. Despite these limitations, several excellent speakers participated who ensured the highest quality of these events. The side events covered the following issues:

Beirut, Lebanon, 11 November 2020 ‒ As part of the 4th International ASHRAE Conference on Efficient Building Designs that took place from 5-6 November 2020 in Beirut, Lebanon, organized jointly by ASHRAE and the American University in Beirut (AUB), UN Environment Programme (UNEP) OzonAction organized a special live session on “Policies and Codes to Enable Compliance with the Montreal Protocol.”

Bangkok, 22 October 2020 ‒ The Pacific region is renowned for its serene and prestigious islands, including its diverse and rich ecosystems, but that natural and human wealth continues to face the major threat of climate change.

Damascus, Syria, 27 October 2020 ‒ Despite the challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Syrian Arabic Republic continues to honour its commitments under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and is preparing itself for the next phase of this multilateral environmental agreement: the phase down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are widely used in refrigeration, air conditioning and foam manufacturing.

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 24 September 2020 ‒ Africa has witnessed an important milestone by the establishment of the first regional refrigeration and air-conditioning association, the Union of African Associations of Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Actors (U-3ARC).  U-3ARC was registered and launched with th

One of the central features of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is that it regulates the international trade of certain chemicals that do harm to our Earth's protective shield, the stratospheric ozone layer, and also contribute to climate change. The treaty relies on compliance and enforcement of national customs regulations, import-export licensing systems, and other laws that restrict or prohibit those substances from entering a country's borders.

Bangkok, 18 August 2020 –  Accurate and timely data are the bedrock of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The data collected and reported by individual Parties to this multilateral environmental agreement are used for many purposes ranging from assessing a country's compliance to determining its eligibility for financial support.

22 July 2020, Bangkok - For Pacific Island nations, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an unwanted distraction from a more existential crisis: climate change. With rising sea levels threatening to erase some countries from the map, perhaps it is no surprise that these same countries have been some of the most proactive during the pandemic in driving forward efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

27 May 2020, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – The National Ozone Authority (NOA) of Mongolia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism is continuing work without let-up amid the COVID-19 pandemic by building the capacity of the country's refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) technicians for servicing room air conditioners that use alternative gases, in line with the objectives of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

With challenges to organize face-to-face events and the postponement of the 6th high ambient temperature (HAT) symposium, planned last March, UNEP OzonAction in cooperation with UNIDO and ASHRAE designed an international Webinar about Alternative Refrigerants for High-Ambient Temperature Countries” convening all HAT countries to share the knowledge acquired from all relevant HAT assessment and research projects with emphasis on the research projects conducted by UNEP/UNIDO in relation to the technical feasibility of alternatives and building risk assessment models to ensure safe deployment

As part of their cooperation to support the needs of different stakeholders in developing countries to fulfil their commitments under the Montreal Protocol, the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) and UNEP OzonAction today released the French and Spanish versions of their popular Technology Briefs on the Cold Chain.

5 May 2020, Doha, Qatar – The COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on the world, what UN Secretary General  António Guterres calls "a public health emergency… an economic crisis, a social crisis and a human crisis that is fast becoming a human rights crisis." While the world is grappling with this multifaceted challenge, most of humanity is now experiencing the “Great Lockdown” where in-person gatherings have been replaced by social distancing to protect public health.

29 April 2020, Dili - Timor-Leste has recently raised the bar in terms of its outreach of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer through a series of successful outreach events organized in March 2020 under its new ‘Ozone Week’ banner.

Collaboration between China and Thailand using OzonAction’s informal Prior Informed Consent (iPIC) system has resulted in the prevention of a huge consignment of ozone-depleting and climate damaging hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). Those chemicals, which are primarily used as refrigerants for air conditioners and fridges, are controlled under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and are being phased out by all countries according to a specific timeline.

Paris, 7 April 2020 — World Refrigeration Day (WRD) is an international commemorative day that raises awareness about the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry and its contribution to modern life, as well as its connection to key societal objectives including mitigating climate change, protecting the ozone layer, and achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Inaugurated in 2019, the initiative is well recognized and supported by leading industry associations and organizations around the globe, as well as governments and non-governmental organisations.

6 January 2020, Muscat  ̶  Refrigeration and air conditioning is at the heart of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

Bangkok, 24 December 2019   ̶  How well Ozone Officers and their teams do in their work – developing projects, managing national strategies, reporting data, developing and enforcing policies, working with national and international institutions – directly or indirectly affects the status of their country's compliance with its obligations under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

In late November and mid-December 2019, both the Maldives and Sri Lanka, in cooperation with UNEP OzonAction and the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigerating Institute (AHRI), advanced the Refrigerant Driving License (RDL) program by conducting technicians training sessions under the pilot stage of the RDL program targeting 31 local technicians who were trained and tested against RDL minimum requirements of competencies and skills.

22 November 2019, Kampala, Uganda  ̶  Today saw the close of a three-day twinning workshop and border dialogues for National Ozone Officers and Customs officials from countries of the East African Region – Africa Anglophone Network.

Rome, Italy, 8 November 2019 – Through organizing six technical sessions and signing five memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with key global refrigeration and air-conditioning associations, UNEP OzonAction is fostering ties with key industry stakeholders and experts from the HVAC&R community.

Ashgabat, 30 September - 2 October 2019 - The Government of Turkmenistan hosted a series of meetings and a full-day stakeholder consultation with high-level Government representatives and experts, during the 3-day visit of Mr. Gilbert Bankobeza, Senior Legal Officer of the Ozone Secretariat in Nairobi, and Mr. Halvart Koeppen, Coordinator of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Montreal Protocol Network of UNEP OzonAction in Paris.

ATLANTA, Nov. 6, 2019 – ASHRAE and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) have announced the project selections for the 2019 ASHRAE-UNEP OzonAction Lower-GWP Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Innovation Awards. The annual international award program promotes innovative design, research and practice by recognizing people who have developed or implemented innovative technological concepts applied in developing countries to promote lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants through refrigeration and air-conditioning applications.

Ulaanbaatar, 29 August 2019 – The Mongolian Ministry of Environment and Tourism, the National Ozone Authority of Mongolia in cooperation with UN Environment Programme (UNEP), organized an “Ozone2Climate (O2C) Technologies Roadshow and Industry Roundtable” in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from 26-27 August 2019, with participation of industry, research institutes, education and training centers, and government agencies.