OEWG46 Meeting
U-3ARC delegation participates at 46th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Parties (OEWG46) and 72nd Meeting of the Implementation Committee under the Non-Compliance Procedure for the Montreal Protocol (ImpCom72) which are held, from July 8 to 12, 2024, in Montreal at Canada.
Daouda MBaye, journalist
Like refrigeration technicians and experts in the RAC sector from around the world in conclave in Montreal, a delegation of their African counterparts, gathered within U-3ARC, are present at OEWG46. The delegation, made up of the President, Madi Sakandé, and the Vice-President, Adlain Eyarmewen Nkie Akan, wanted to clarify its desire to be present where the future of their profession is decided.
As indicated by the title of this 46th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, it is a question of discussing a certain number of crucial points for the climate, in particular the refrigerant lifecycle management, combating illegal trade, and strengthening global efforts to better monitor controlled substances. Recall that the original objective of the Montreal Protocol was to reduce the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs), which contributed to the depletion of the Earth's ozone layer. At the 2016 MOP in Kigali, countries agreed to amend the Protocol to include a target of reducing the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by more than 80% over two to three decades. Since then, 159 countries have ratified the Kigali Amendment which, if successfully implemented, would mitigate HFC emissions equivalent to more than 80 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide and could limit remaining warming from HFCs at less than 0.06°C.
A vibrant appeal
The OEWG46 and ImpCom meetings include plenary sessions, but are also punctuated by Side Events, Restricted Meetings and implementation committees. For Madi Sakandé, OEWG46 is an opportunity to hold meetings and meetings, so that all U-3ARC associations start to work properly as national associations and are ready to get involved in the projects of the Montreal Protocol in Africa. He found the meeting, held on Tuesday July 9, 2024, with UNEP, UNIDO, UNDP and multilateral funds particularly fruitful to discuss how to involve U-3ARC and national associations in the implementation of these projects. Vice President Adlain Eyarmewen Nkie Akan will then make a plea to the Montreal Protocol project implementing agencies and representatives of the Multilateral Fund who finance the projects.
Rich from all points of view, these meetings were enhanced with Side Events, such as “Next Practice as against Best Practice in servicing sector for Cooling Systems", "A transition to R290 and R600a for commercial refrigeration in Nigeria and Africa", “Integrated Approaches to promote Energy efficiency, low GWP RAC Appliances in Africa”, “Case of Studies in Energy Efficiency Cooling Systems ", etc.
Africa, for the end of environmental dumping
Among the case studies on energy-efficient cooling systems, the Vice-President of U-3ARC presented the one on split-system air conditioners in Africa. To do this, he first asked himself whether the validity of energy efficiency has any meaning outside the West, before examining the contrast between the export of obsolete and energy-intensive air conditioners to Africa and Environmental protection. Of course, Adlain Eyarmewen focused on the fight against the export of energy-intensive and low-energy-efficiency air conditioners.
He concluded his remarks by proposing an outline of solutions which paraphrases the CLASP report (Collaborative Labelling & Appliance Standards Program) allowing actions to be taken to put an end to the environmental dumping of low energy efficiency and obsolete individual air conditioners. It is a package of measures, ranging from the ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and the adoption of implementation policies, to the involvement of local groups who profit from the current system by trading in obsolete equipment in the resolution of these practices, through the development and implementation of MEPS (Minimum Efficiency Performance Standard) and labeling policies in line with the main exporting countries of individual air conditioners, the strengthening of institutional arrangements, the review of rights customs duties on individual air conditioners in order to ensure compatibility with energy efficiency objectives, the ban on importing second-hand, low energy efficient individual air conditioners, even renovated, the organization of group purchases and buyers' clubs to consolidate requests and purchases at affordable prices of high energy efficiency and low GWP individual air conditioners, the recycling and correct disposal of obsolete individual air conditioners or the transposition of solutions on a regional scale. Africa, for the end of environmental dumping
Among the case studies on energy-efficient cooling systems, the Vice-President of U-3ARC presented the one on split-system air conditioners in Africa. To do this, he first asked himself whether the validity of energy efficiency has any meaning outside the West, before examining the contrast between the export of obsolete and energy-intensive air conditioners to Africa and Environmental protection. Of course, Adlain Eyarmewen focused on the fight against the export of energy-intensive and low-energy-efficiency air conditioners.
He concluded his remarks by proposing an outline of solutions which paraphrases the CLASP report allowing actions to be taken to put an end to the environmental dumping of low energy efficiency and obsolete individual air conditioners. It is a package of measures, ranging from the ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and the adoption of implementation policies, to the involvement of local groups who profit from the current system by trading in obsolete equipment in the resolution of these practices, through the development and implementation of NPEM and labeling policies in line with the main exporting countries of individual air conditioners, the strengthening of institutional arrangements, the review of rights customs duties on individual air conditioners in order to ensure compatibility with energy efficiency objectives, the ban on importing second-hand, low energy efficient individual air conditioners, even renovated, the organization of group purchases and buyers' clubs to consolidate requests and purchases at affordable prices of high energy efficiency and low GWP individual air conditioners, the recycling and correct disposal of obsolete individual air conditioners or the transposition of solutions on a regional scale.
Box: CLASP Report
CLASP (Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program) recently published a report examining the split air conditioner market in 2018 in 10 countries which represent 96% of the African market: Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa South, Tanzania and Tunisia.
In this report, “low energy efficiency air conditioners” were defined as individual air conditioners whose energy efficiency ratio (EER) was below the minimum threshold of 3.0 W/W. Since an EER of 3.0 W/W is the minimum threshold for most countries exporting air conditioners to African countries, these products could not be sold in the countries where they are manufactured.
(Source: U-3ARC VP Exposé)