Government structures

In new book, Project Drawdown calculates impact of 80 strategies on cutting greenhouse gas emissions over 30 years.

On March 22, 2017, the international expert of cold chain, refrigeration and air-conditioning CEMAFROID* organised a technical day dedicated to the Certicold Pharma label.

Global efforts to protect the climate and the ozone layer have received a boost with the first ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The ratification by Mali was received on 31 March. More countries are expected to ratify this Amendment in the coming months.

Organized by the UN Environment (UNEP), ASHRAE, the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), with the kind support of the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Department of Industrial Works, the Sustainable Management of Refrigeration Technologies in Marine and Off-Shore Fisheries Sectors Conference takes place April 6-8, 2017, in Bangkok, Thailand.

This publication shows that only three countries in Europe are on the right track to deliver on the Paris climate agreement. The EU Climate Leader Board looks at the position of each European government towards the EU’s largest climate law, the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR). Sweden tops the list, followed by Germany and France. At the other end Poland, Italy, Spain and Czech Republic push to weaken the Commission proposal, countering Europe’s efforts to comply with the Paris agreement.

Fifty National Ozone Officers from the English-speaking and French-speaking African Network countries gathered in Abidjan from 20-24 March 2017 to review and address challenges related to the phase-out of HCFCs and their national Montreal Protocol activities as well as to discuss strategic frameworks and plans of action for hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) phase-down.

In countries with high ambient temperatures, air-conditioning is not a luxury: it is a necessity. In 2013, the project, “Promoting low global warming potential refrigerants for air-conditioning sectors in high ambient temperature countries (PRAHA)” was approved by the Multilateral Fund with UNIDO and UNEP as the implementing agencies.

More must be done to lift barriers to natural refrigerant uptake such as restrictive safety standards, the EIA’s Clare Perry told visitors to the EuroShop tradeshow yesterday.

Since February 27 till March 2, 2017, a meeting of representatives of refrigeration associations of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Ukraine as well as working groups from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan took place in Moscow. It resulted in establishing the Interstate technical committee which will help specialists in refrigeration solve their common problems.

Urging the industry to develop unique products to carve out a niche for India at the global level, the Environment Minister, Shri Anil Madhav Dave, has said that companies must invest a part of their income into research & development (R&D) and do some out-of-the-box thinking. “If money can be invested into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), money should also be invested into research to develop unique products that can be used in the future,” the Minister added. Shri Dave pointed out that India is by nature, a land of researchers and the likes of Aryabhatt and Ramanuj are sons of soil and in our blood. “The only thing we need to do is to create an atmosphere and pull out the resources”, he said.

Since February 27 till March 2, 2017, a meeting of representatives of refrigeration associations of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Ukraine as well as working groups from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan took place in Moscow. It resulted in establishing the Interstate technical committee which will help specialists in refrigeration solve their common problems.

The low-lying atoll nation has become the first country to pass a law in parliament ratifying the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

Officials from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Ministry of Environment attending ATMOsphere Japan 2017 were confident that the country would achieve its f-gas phase-down targets.

Singapore Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced the tax in his budget speech in parliament on Monday.

Since the Marrakech Climate Change Conference, 17 countries have ratified the Paris Agreement. The total number of ratifications stands at 132 countries.

With the support of Department of Industrial Works, Government of Thailand, UN Environment, ASHRAE, IIR and UNIDO are organising the first international conference on: Sustainable Management of Refrigeration Technologies in Marine and Off-Shore Fisheries Sectors

The European Commission has adopted a proposal for the EU to ratify the amendment to the Montreal Protocol on a global phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), tackling the rapid growth of emissions of these potent greenhouse gases.

EPA GreenChill webinars on natural refrigerants could be affected.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed two rules that will see bans on a number of HFC refrigerants and a tightening of leak rate rules to reduce HFC emissions.

The Federal Government of Australia recently announced that it was to implement a phase-down of HFCs. The phase-down will start in January 2018 and will reduce HFC emissions by 85% in 2036.