Cli­ma­te and Ozone Pro­tec­tion Al­li­an­ce (CO­PA)

Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK)
Partner countries: Global, China, Ghana
Implementing partners: United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Demand for cooling and air conditioning units is rising sharply in the Global South. As a result, there is an ever-growing number of appliances and foams containing halogenated hydrocarbons. These are either ozone-depleting substances (ODS) or have a high global-warming potential (hydrofluorocarbons, HFCs). When old cooling devices are not disposed of in an environmentally friendly way, the legacy ‘ODS and HFC banks’ release emissions freely into the atmosphere.

The disposal of ODS and HFC banks is not currently a priority in the international climate debate. To date, the international community has only agreed to regulate the production and consumption of ODS in the Montreal Protocol and to phase-down climate-warming HFCs in the Kigali Amendment. An agreement on how to dispose of existing ODS and HFCs is still needed.

Objective

Policy-makers are taking measures to get rid of ODS and HFC banks and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are also incorporating this issue into their national climate strategies.

Approach

The Climate and Ozone Protection Alliance (COPA) is combating emissions from old cooling devices in China and Ghana. As the project progresses, more countries demonstrating considerable potential for reducing ODS and HFCs will be identified and supported. As part of this, the plan is to expand networks and to establish the Alliance in the countries concerned at political level. COPA is focusing above all on working with metropolitan regions, as this is where large quantities of legacy ODS and HFCs build up. In terms of putting reduction measures into practice, COPA carries out status quo analyses and implements practical models in selected metropolitan regions.

Last update: November 2022

Image: Shutterstock / Mikhail P.

For further information on COPA please also visit www.copalliance.org (opens in a new window).

Part­ner coun­tries

La­test News

Re­gis­tra­ti­on: CO­PA si­de event at COP27

03.11.2022 , News :

(opens enlarged image)

Shedding light on a blind spot: leveraging the vast emissions reduction potential of correct disposal of refrigerants to achieve NDCs

The global demand for refrigeration and air conditioning continues to grow and with that the stock of appliances, foams and products containing substances with a high global warming potential. Some of them even contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer. These so-called banks of Ozon Depleting Substances (ODS) and Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are not being managed or disposed in an environmentally sound manner and emit substances equivalent to approximately 1.5 Gt CO2 each year.

Currently, there are no global agreements in place to address the challenge of accumulating ODS and HFC banks in old cooling equipment. As a result, this specific emission reduction potential has remained largely untapped up to now: The newly launched Climate and Ozone Protection Alliance (COPA) brings together all relevant actors to jointly work on urgently needed solutions for ODS and HFC banks. COPA will support member countries and partners in exploiting GHG emission reduction potential in ODS and HFC banks management, thereby making a significant contribution to achieving partner countries’ mitigation and nationally determined contributions (NDCs) targets and contributing to the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to below 1.5°C increase.

The focus of the side event is to highlight the potential of managing ODS and HFC banks and how it can be used to raise NDC ambitions.

12 November 2022
11:30-1:00 
Light lunch will be served after the presentations
COP27, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
IETA HUB

Re­gis­ter he­re

Fields marked with asterisks ("*") are required