How can synergies between the Kigali Amendment and Paris Agreement be harnessed? And what was the consequence of the raised charge limits for flammable refrigerants in commercial refrigeration? At our two side events at this year’s virtual MOP we offered answers to these questions.
Even though organising events online is nothing new for us, the two side events at this year's Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol (MOP) were a little premiere. For the first time we could open our MOP side events to the public and thus to a broader audience involved in related climate initiatives. Almost 190 people from 85 countries joined the virtual sessions from their homes around the world and gained insights on the interactions between the Kigali Amendment and Paris Agreement and on the implications of the IEC 60335-2-89 standard revision for commercial refrigeration.
Side event on the interactions between the Kigali Amendment and Paris Agreement
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” With this African proverb, Dr. Claudia Hiepe from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) welcomed all attendees to the session on the interactions between the Kigali Amendment (KA) and Paris Agreement (PA) with a focus on HFCs and the transition to Green Cooling.
Within in the past years, the complexity of climate governance increased. Multilateral environmental agreements such as the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC) and the Kigali Amendment (Montreal Protocol) became more and more interlinked. Although both regimes have their own focus, with the KA aiming at the introduction of control measures for production and consumption of HFCs, and the PA, focusing on reducing emissions in general, there are clear overlaps. Axel Michaelowa, senior founding partner at the Perspectives Climate Group, gave an overview on international carbon market mechanisms and the KA phase-down paths. His presentation emphasised how Article 6 of the PA can be utilised for HFC mitigation activities within the framework of the KA and the challenges in harmonizing the mandates of both agreements regarding the HCFC adder and end-of-use emissions. He concluded: “We have the two agreements that can work hand in hand. In principle there is a very good basis for accelerated mitigation of HFCs when synchronizing both agreements. This could lead to a transformational change in the RAC sector.”
To illustrate experience from practice, Marindany Kirui, National Ozone Unit (NOU) Kenya, and Michael Ochieng Okumu, Climate Change Directorate (CCD) at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Kenya, together with Ruth Moraa, GIZ NDC Partnerships, discussed the links between the work of the NOU and CCD in Kenya. They also talked about developing activities in the RAC sector as a basis for cooperation between both entities and about recommendations on how to integrate the RAC sector into a country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Infobox with link to the recording of the first side event
Did you miss our event on the interactions between the Kigali Amendment and Paris Agreement?
You can find the recording of the event here.
For more information on this topic you can check out our publication "Interaction between Art. 6 of the Paris Agreement and the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol".
Side Event on the IEC 60335-2-89 standard revision for commercial refrigeration
As part of our second virtual event we invited experts from the commercial refrigeration sector to discuss the implications of the 2019 revised safety standard IEC 60335-2-89 and resulting opportunities for the use of flammable refrigerants in commercial refrigeration appliances.
Commercial refrigeration is a top priority when it comes to food and pharmaceutical products, and its demand is increasing. In this respect the IEC 60335-2-89 standard revision is an important step for the wide-scale introduction of ozone- and climate-friendly cooling solutions and to unlock mitigation potential in the commercial refrigeration sector. The raised charge limit for flammable refrigerants in autonomous commercial refrigeration appliances up to 500g reduce the barriers to use gases such as propane (R290) and isobutane (R600a). In his introductory input Philipp Munzinger, GIZ Proklima, placed a spotlight on the climate relevance of the commercial refrigeration sector and emphasised the potential of standard updates for emission mitigation: “With existing technology options and standard updates that have been taking place, there is quite a potential to deviate from the business-as-usual (BAU) pass and to decuple emissions from a growing commercial refrigeration sector.”
Next Marek Zgliczynski, R&D Director at Embraco North America and chair of the sub-committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) developing the new standard for commercial refrigeration, presented insights on the revised IEC -89 standard. With the higher limits, appliances covered by the standard revision such as bottle coolers and ice machines reach a much higher cooling capacity when using flammable substances like propane in a single circuit.
Ekkapong Tangsirimanakul, General Manager at the Thailand-based commercial refrigerator manufacturer Patana Intercool, stressed the opportunities of the standard revision for manufacturers and countries’ commercial refrigeration sector. “With higher charge limits, manufacturers can introduce new products and expand their market.” He pointed out that the increasing number of appliances using R290 in the commercial refrigeration sector can motivate more suppliers to follow and to offer components for flammable refrigerants.
Infobox with link to the recording of the second side event
Did you miss our side event on the impact of the IEC 60335-2-89 standard revision for commercial refrigeration?
You can find the recording of the event here.
Remarks
The sessions were organized by GIZ Proklima on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) (opens in a new window) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) (opens in a new window). We thank all speakers and attendees for their participation!