UNEP AND ASHRAE RENEW THEIR SUPPORT FOR REFRIGERATION AND AIR CONDITIONING SECTOR
Chicago, USA (January 22, 2024) – UN Environment Programme (UNEP) OzonAction and ASHRAE have an ongoing collaboration spanning almost two decades to help developing countries manage an environmentally-responsible, smooth and safe transition to new refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump (RACHP) technologies and practices in support of the goals set by the Montreal Protocol and the Paris Climate Accord: replacing ozone depleting substances (ODS), promoting lower global warming potentials (GWPs), and enhancing energy efficiency. During the 2024 ASHRAE Winter Conference last month, the two organisations launched their new 2024-2025 Work Plan under the theme “Refrigerant Management for Climate Protection and Energy Efficiency in Developing Economies.” Ginger Scoggins, P.E., 2023-2024 ASHRAE President, and James Curlin, Head of UNEP OzonAction, participated in the signing ceremony, which reaffirmed their organisation’s commitment to support the RACHP sector in developing economies.
ASHRAE is the largest engineering society in the world focusing on the advancement of the RACHP sector and has more than 55,000 members and 211 chapters worldwide. UNEP is an Implementing Agency of the Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral Fund, and OzonAction assists 148 developing countries to meet and sustain their compliance obligations under the treaty.
Since 2007, when ASHRAE and UNEP OzonAction signed their first partnership agreement, the two global organizations have been offering information products, sharing knowledge, and co-organizing events to help achieve these goals. The new work plan emphasizes the deployment of all the ASHRAE- UNEP developed tools and products for sound management of refrigerants and making them available and accessible to different stakeholders in developing countries. In agreeing to this Work Plan, ASHRAE and UNEP are working collaboratively to implement their respective mission statements: Respectively, to benefit humanity by advancing the arts and sciences of heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration and to assist developing countries to meet and sustain their compliance with the Montreal Protocol. Both ASHRAE and UNEP recognize the value of sharing resources to implement environmentally beneficial technology choices and strengthen infrastructure capacity to support technology adoption and application.
The ASHRAE-UNEP cooperation includes a wide range of services to support the needs of stakeholders in developing countries, including covering three different courses and released over the last few years:
- Three e-Learning courses: Refrigerant Literacy (available in English, French and Spanish), Sound Management of Refrigerants (available in English, French and Spanish Languages), and Energy Efficiency Literacy for Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Systems (available in English Language).
- A Refrigerant Management curriculum for University-level engineering courses,
- The Lower-GWP Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Innovation Award
Factsheets and other technical publications.
- Specialized joint conferences and events.
The services being delivered under this workplan are even more critical than ever as countries simultaneously strive to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerants under the Montreal Protocol and (for those Parties to the Kigali Amendment) begin the phase down process for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Many HCFCs and HFCs are high-GWP gases that contribute to climate change when released to the atmosphere, and the equipment that uses those refrigerants has an impact on energy consumption, which also contributes to climate change.
All ASHRAE-UNEP products and services included in the joint workplan are offered free-of-charge and are accessible to National Ozone Units and RAC sector stakeholders in developing countries through the ASHRAE-UNEP Portal.
The workplan is aligned with the objectives in UNEP's 2024-2026 Compliance Assistance Programme (CAP) Strategy under the Multilateral Fund.
View ASHRAE Press Release.
For more information:
ASHRAE Contact for Partner Activities
Mark Owen
mowen@ashrae.org
UNEP Contact for Partner Activities
Amr Abdel Hai
abdelhai@un.org