South Asia

The Ozone Officers’ Network for South Asia (SA) established in 1997, is managed by UNEP as part of its global networking under UNEP OzonAction. Member countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, the Democratic Republic of Korea, India, Iran (the Islamic Republic of), Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, and Sri Lanka, and one supporting developed country Japan.

The network is composed of countries that are low volume consuming countries (LVCs) to large consuming and producing countries, which provides a wealth of experience and knowledge for National Ozone Units (NOUs) to share and learn from each other.

Key Achievements

The SA Network includes some countries that have a unique position in the Montreal Protocol and their commitment towards the phase-out of ozone depleting substances (ODS). For instance, Maldives was the first developing country to achieve full phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFCs) at the end of 2020. The SA Network also consists of the major producers and consumers of HCFCs and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) such as China and India. During the past years, compliance has continued to be the main theme for the Asia and Pacific Office Compliance Assistance Programme (CAP) team.

The South Asia Network also has some of the earliest parties to ratify the Kigali Amendment on the phase down of HFCs. As of March 2024, nine out of 13 South Asia Network countries have ratified the Kigali Amendment: DPR Korea (2017), Maldives (2017), Sri Lanka (2018), Bhutan (2019), Bangladesh (2020), China (2021), India (2021), Mongolia (2022) and most recently, Republic of Korea (2023).

As of 2022, the HCFC phase-out in the SA Network has been on track and under the required compliance levels on a regional aggregate level as illustrated in the figure below.
 

Recent Highlights

In 2023, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka, continued their work on Kigali HFC Implementation Plan (KIP) preparation projects and Maldives and Mongolia have successfully been approved for additional funding for activities to introduce alternatives to HCFCs with low or zero GWP and for maintaining energy efficiency in the refrigeration servicing sector.

Network Meetings, Thematic Workshops and Events:  From 2022, the following regional/sub-regional events were organized/co-organized for the South Asia Network. Background information on these events is are available in the OzonAction Meeting Portal:

Upcoming 2024 events

• Thematic Meeting for High Ambient Temperature (HAT)/Group 2 Countries, 22-23 April 2024, Dubai, The United Arab Emirates
• Joint Network Meeting of South Asia and Southeast Asia National Ozone Officers, back-to-back with the Energy Efficiency Twinning Workshop, 20 – 24 May 2024, Guangzhou, China
• Joint Network Meeting for Ozone Officers in South Asia and West Asia and Customs Border Dialogue, 24 – 27 September 2024

2023

• Asia Pacific Exploring Innovative Strategy to Garner General Public Advocacy on Ozone2Climate Action, 27 January 2023
• Parallel South Asia (SA) Network Meeting of National Ozone Officers (NOOs) & Green Customs Initiatives Capacity Building Workshop for Customs Officers (COs) of SA, & Twinning NOO-COs Workshop on ODS/HFC Trade Control & Reporting, Maldives, 21-25 May 2023
• Pilot Advanced NOO Training, Joint Meeting of South Asia & Southeast Asia Networks of NOOs and Thematic Workshop to Enhance Awareness and Communication under the Montreal Protocol, Phuket, Thailand, 20-24 November 2023
• Training of Assessor on Competency-based Certification for Good Servicing Practices in the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Servicing sector, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 28-30 November 2023

2022

• Hybrid practical Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning technician training in Asia-Pacific
• Virtual Joint Thematic Workshop of South Asia and Southeast Asia Networks on Asia and Pacific Regional Ozone2Climate Art Contest, 10 February 2022
• Virtual Thematic Workshop for PIC/SA/SEA Networks on the integration of Good Servicing Practices into national Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) System to promote competency-based certification, 17 March 2022
• Virtual Joint Meeting of the South Asia, Southeast Asia and Pacific Island Countries Networks of National Ozone Officers, 27 April 2022
• Joint Network Meeting of the South Asia, Southeast Asia and Pacific Island Countries, National Ozone Officers, Bangkok, Thailand, 17-21 July 2022
• 2022 Ozone2Climate (O2C) Technology Roadshow and Industry Roundtable, Chongqing, China, 1-3 August 2022
• Asia-Pacific Ozone2Climate Art Contest, 16 September 2022
• Joint Meeting of South Asia and Southeast Asia Networks of National Ozone Officers and Training of New National Ozone Officers, Chiangmai, Thailand, 3-5 October 2022
• Training of new National Ozone Unit staff in South Asia/Southeast Asia, Chiangmai, Thailand, 6-7 October 2022

Gender Mainstreaming:

The South Asia Network has been working to mainstream gender into their Montreal Protocol implementation such as gender disaggregated data collection, gender awareness-raising and gender promotion activities and set gender promotion as one of the targets in the activities where possible.

Key Challenges

• Most of the servicing sector is highly informal in the region, resulting in little capacity and knowledge of ozone and climate-friendly technologies and servicing practices, thus creating a major barrier to the adoption of such technologies.
• Lack of awareness by the end-users (consumers) on ozone and climate-friendly RAC technologies has been a barrier to the uptake of environmentally friendly refrigerants and energy-efficient Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) equipment.
• There is a need for strengthening institutional frameworks between the NOUs and other relevant government agencies and stakeholders to improve the implementation of Montreal Protocol related policies and regulations. Furthermore, new stakeholders and partnerships need to be fostered to achieve synergies of Montreal Protocol obligations with climate change and energy efficiency goals.
• Geographic positioning and sharing of porous borders of many countries make monitoring and prevention of illegal ODS trade challenging.
• Some of the countries in the Network face implementation challenges due to prevailing political situations and security challenges.
• Some of the countries in the Network face challenges in advancing trade controls through digitalization of ODS/HFC licensing and quota systems due to limited connectivity in the country or lack of adequate capacities.
• Some countries in the Network face challenges in promoting equal opportunities for men and women in the industry.
• COVID-19 impacts on HFC consumption:  During the COVID-19 pandemic, economic conditions in SA countries were affected to various extents leading to reductions in HFC consumption during the baseline years (2020-2022) in some SA countries.  However, consumption of HFCs is increasing due to businesses resuming post-pandemic and economic growth in the region.  It is essential to closely monitor the growth of HFC consumption to ensure Group 1 SA countries would meet the freeze obligation in 2024 while maintaining economic growth.

Future Objectives

The 2024 South Asia Network workplan is mainly comprised of compliance assistance services, preparation and implementation of individual country projects including HCFC phase-out management plans (HPMPs), additional activities related to Energy Efficiency, Institutional Strengthening Projects, Enabling Activities related to the HFC phase-down,Inventory of ODS Banks, and the Kigali Phase-down Implementation Plans (KIP) preparation and implementation.

The objectives of the SA Network will be built on the recommendations and conclusions from the past network and thematic meetings, Meetings of the Parties, and the Executive Committee Meeting decisions. The Network will focus on the following issues:

• Promoting dialogue and providing assistance related to monitoring, reporting, verification and enforcement (MRVE) to sustain the Montreal Protocol targets already met and to meet future targets.
• Extending cooperation with the enforcement community at the international, regional and national levels to combat illegal trade through awareness, joint activities, and coordination.
• Helping NOUs to understand and comply with the changing Article 7 and Country Programme data reporting requirements, as well as the new Harmonized System (HS) custom codes.
• Prioritizing training and capacity building activities for the refrigeration servicing sector (RSS) through ongoing HPMPs, CAP services, and specific training tools already developed or under finalisation.
• Supporting NOUs to address different technical challenges related to adopting and deploying lower-global warming potential (GWP) alternatives including, but not limited to, updating standards/codes, needs of high ambient temperature countries, safety considerations, availability of alternatives for commercial/industrial refrigeration sector, and other technical priorities of Article 5 countries.
• Encouraging linkages between NOUs and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) authorities and increasing the ownership/involvement of national training institutions to deliver training and adopt the curricula developed by UNEP, to further promote the sustainability of the capacity building delivered with Multilateral Fund assistance.
• Exploring sector specific information and strategies for the cold chain sector.
• Further brainstorming on the integration of energy efficiency in HPMP implementation. Other concepts to be discussed could include demand side management of consumption rather than supply side management through developing target awareness materials for end-users (ranging from large-scale consumers, e.g. developers/supermarkets, to home appliance consumers) on savings from more energy efficient low-GWP appliances.
• Introducing refrigerant management concepts and ideas for activities to be included in HPMPs/KIPs. Concepts such as setting leakage baselines and leak reduction targets to enable measurable consumption reductions in the servicing sector, thus allowing future projects to include quantitative rather than qualitative analysis on servicing sector consumption.
• Assisting countries with the incorporation of Kigali Amendment requirements into their national legal and policy frameworks.
• Building the capacity of NOUs to understand and address new obligations under the Kigali Amendment.
• Gender mainstreaming: UNEP CAP will continue to build capacity of SA Network countries to identify entry points to integrate gender into different workstreams of Montreal Protocol implementation.

REGIONAL CONTACTS

Ms. Elisa Rim
Interim Montreal Protocol Regional Coordinator for South Asia

OzonAction CAP team for Asia and the Pacific