Towards a more member-driven Climate and Ozone Protection Alliance

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.

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.
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