Throughout the past years, the project "Management and destruction of existing ozone depleting substances in ODS banks" (ODS Banks) has successfully addressed the often overlooked topic of ODS and HFC banks.
While the international community has agreed to regulate the production and consumption of ODS by the Montreal Protocol and to phase-down HFCs with its Kigali Amendment, no agreements have been made regarding the destruction of the ODS and HFCs already produced. The topic of “ODS and HFC banks” remains largely unaddressed by international agreements despite its huge climate impact. According to project estimates, 1.5 Gt CO2eq are emitted per year which is equal to annual emissions from 441 coal power plants. The global IKI-project ODS Banks provides strategies and good practice approaches for a sustainable management of ODS banks and assists the partner countries to develop their national sustainable management systems for ODS contained in cooling equipment.