01/23/2025

Towards a more member-driven Climate and Ozone Protection Alliance

Multiple pallets of gray gas cylinders labeled with yellow tags that read "Recovery." The cylinders are neatly stacked and stored in an industrial setting.

The IKI-supported Climate and Ozone Protection Alliance sets the course for its transition to a more independent alliance. In their recent Plenary Meeting, the member focused on highlights, future plans and the commitment to mitigation actions.

Each year, approximately 1.5 Gt CO2-eq are released from improperly managed or disposed refrigerants. This is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 441 coal-fired power plants. Currently, neither the Montreal Protocol nor other international agreements address the challenge of the accumulation of ozone depleting substances (ODS) and hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) banks in old cooling equipment. IKI has put a spotlight on this challenge by initiating the Climate and Ozone Protection Alliance (COPA) in 2021.

With the year 2024 ending, it’s time for a new beginning. COPA has grown into a diverse network of 75 members joining forces and can point to numerous successes in the reduction of ODS and HFC banks. Among other things, it has been achieved that the international community is increasingly focusing on lifecycle refrigerant management. IKI's initial aim of drawing attention to the issues of ODS&HFC banks has been accomplished. Therefore, this is expected to be the last year of funding by IKI for COPA: The time has come to put the members in the driver's seat.

On 27 and 28 November, an Extraordinary Plenary Meeting was held to celebrate the achievements and to set the course for the future. 

The most important achievement is that COPA has made a difference: its work on sustainable refrigerant management has brought the issue to the forefront of the global community, for example at the last years 36th Meeting of the Parties in Bangkok, where the Montreal Protocol community focused on lifecycle refrigerant management. This international awareness shows that COPA and its work are more important than ever.  

A promising future

COPA is now ready to develop into a sustainable, independent alliance that implements climate change mitigation projects. This means that the members themselves will determine the way forward

COPA members gave inspiration for future activities during the final session of the meeting. Among others, an online course on leveraging carbon markets and Article 6 for refrigerant management was presented by the member Energy Changes, a climate and sustainability advisory and project developer, followed by a detailed 5-step plan to “Get ready for finance” under the Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. In addition, a project idea was pitched, highlighting the importance of an electronic logbook helpdesk as a critical tool to reduce leakage and emissions.

A graphic featuring Malawi’s stylized flag with a red rising sun emblem. To the right is a quote from Peter Mmora praising COPA’s environmental efforts and emphasizing the importance of sustainability initiatives in Malawi.
Peter Mmora from the National Ozone Unit Malawi comments on COPA.

The pitches showed that there are many promising projects and ideas for mitigation actions waiting to be implemented. COPA will continue to work together on sustainable refrigerant management with a strong commitment to the common cause: Accelerating a global shift to sustainable refrigerant management and closing the loop to a circular economy in the cooling sector.

The link has been copied to the clipboard

Contact

IKI Office
Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH
Stresemannstraße 69-71

10963 Berlin

iki-office@z-u-g.org

Further information

COPA-Website

Related Videos

The content cannot be shown, because the marketing-cookies were denied. Click here , for accepting the cookies and show the video!

Related news

A woman installs an air conditioning system
09/18/2024

Accelerating the transition to future friendly cooling

read more Accelerating the transition to future friendly cooling
A man in work clothes in front of an industrial plant
06/06/2024

Virtual Study Tour on Sustainable Refrigerant Management

read more Virtual Study Tour on Sustainable Refrigerant Management
Workshop about ODS in Tunis; Photo: GIZ/Proklima
04/06/2018

ODS in Tunisia

read more ODS in Tunisia
Representatives from Ghana and Colombia visiting Swiss company immark AG during a workshop on ODS bank management; photo: GIZ Proklima
12/21/2017

Getting rid of ozone-depleting substances (ODS)

read more Getting rid of ozone-depleting substances (ODS)
Proklima exhibition booth at the 39th OEWG in Bangkok; Photo: GIZ/Proklima
07/24/2017

Strategic cooling to cut global warming

read more Strategic cooling to cut global warming
Person pushing fridge on a barrow
11/06/2015

Scrapping a fridge

read more Scrapping a fridge