Pro­kli­ma – In­te­gra­ted Cli­ma­te and Ozone Pro­tec­tion

For more than 25 years, Proklima has been promoting integrated ozone and climate protection in the cooling sector worldwide, focusing on the use of natural refrigerants and foam blowing agents.

Map with partner countries

Proklima advises the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

Policy advice, capacity building, awareness raising, and knowledge transfer are in the centre of Proklima’s activities. On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the project supports the German government in all bilateral and multilateral processes related to the Montreal Protocol.

Proklima supports the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through technical and policy advice and participates in meetings and conferences of the Montreal Protocol such as the Meeting of the Parties (MOP), the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) and ExCom. Through publications and events, it informs both the professional audience and the general public about latest developments on sustainable cooling and future-friendly natural refrigerants. One of its lighthouse activities is the "Cool Training" course about the save handling of natural refrigerants for trainers, technicians and policy makers from around the world. It is offered several times a year in cooperation with the professional training institute Bundesfachschule Kälte-Klima-Technik (BFS) in Germany.

Im­pres­si­ons

Image: giz / Andreas Döring
Laura Casas Morán, participant of a Cool Training in 2022: "We learnt a lot about natural refrigerants. This is really important, because in my country we still need a change in mindsets."

La­test News

Can ref­ri­ge­r­ants with a GWP be­low 150 be used for split air con­di­tio­ners in Eu­ro­pe?

10/2022 , Publication - Technical Publication :

The viability of applying selected refrigerants with a GWP < 150 to reversible room air conditioning systems (RACS) with nominal cooling capacities below 12 kW is considered. The assessment reflects the proposed revision to the European F-gas regulation.

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  • This class of RACS currently use R410A and R32, whereas alternative refrigerants with GWP < 150 under consideration are primarily R1270, R290 and secondarily R1234yf and R152a. 
  • Application of these alternatives is evaluated with regards to the extended use of flammable refrigerants enabled by the revised safety standard for air conditioners and heat pumps, IEC 60335-2-40: 2022.
  • The criteria against which the viability is assessed are:
    • Product safety, through compliance with safety standards, primarily related to refrigerant charge limits necessary for high efficiency RACS.
    • Cost for the consumer, through impact on material costs and whether adoption of the alternatives would result in an adverse increase in cost.
    • Environmental impact, through assessment of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions
  • The assessment is carried out through the use of a publicly-available RACS database (Eurovent) which was extended to include refrigerant charge, product mass and dimensions and pricing. Aspects assessed include performance analysis of the refrigerant-RACS combinations considering heat exchanger and piping design, quantification of mass and dimensions of system components, costs and associated CO2e emissions.