VIENNA, 26 June 2020 – On World Refrigeration Day 2020, the Montreal Protocol Division of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in collaboration with the World Refrigeration Day Secretariat, organized an online webinar on the impact and importance of refrigeration. Experts representing National Ozone Units, governments and the private sector shared their views on the opportunities provided by the Kigali Amendment to strengthen institutions, drive policy changes and transfer technology in support of sustainable solutions in the refrigeration sector.

The session started out with an overview by Ole Nielsen, Chief of the Montreal Protocol Division who spoke about the three topics in refrigeration within the framework of the Kigali Amendment - energy efficiency, industry 4.0 and skills development. He further raised the point how the challenging times of the COVID19 pandemic also gave rise to new communication opportunities with UNIDO’s partners, and mentioned the level of demand for future webinars.

In his keynote speech by Stephen Gill, founder of the World Refrigeration Day and former president of the Institute of Refrigeration in the UK, spoke about the impact and importance of cooling. From this presentation, the audience learnt about the significant role that refrigeration industry and its technology play in modern life and society.  

Referencing UNIDO’s experience in industry, providing refrigeration equipment, energy management and systems optimization, Bettina Schreck, Industrial Development Officer at UNIDO, emphasized the value of accelerating the climate benefits of the Kigali Amendment. Introducing proper maintenance or servicing in energy management, as well as optimization systems for refrigeration, demonstrated the potential impact of energy savings for industry partners.

The audience also took part in an interactive poll to identify the most important barriers for implementing energy efficiency in refrigeration.

Joining the discussion, Adnan Atwa, Industrial Development Officer at UNIDO, and Klas Berglöf, CEO of ClimaCheck, introduced the main principles and challenges of inclusive and sustainable industrial development and innovation to facilitate the HFC phase-down. The audience learned about the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the refrigeration sector and were able to see practical applications from various installations worldwide.

The audience also heard about the obstacles and opportunities in skills development in the face of the Kigali Amendment. Ester Monroy, Project Coordinator at UNIDO, highlighted the importance of upgrading the technicians’ skills in order to improve and maintain energy efficiency.   

Finally, Ole Nielsen provided an outlook on future collaborations between the Montreal Protocol Division and its trusted partners, reflecting on previous activities and announcing next steps of action.

He was followed by Zeynep Gökcen Asan, who spoke on behalf of the National Ozone Unit Office in Turkey, and shared the country’s experiences and, in regard to the implementation of the Enabling Activities project, spoke about future steps towards the ratification of the Kigali Amendment at end of 2020.

More than 140 participants worldwide joined the webinar, sharing comments and questions. During the Q&A sessions between presentations, key questions focused on the implementation of HPMP-II, and enabling activities, as well as Kigali Amendment ratifications during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in regards to technical training for technicians to reduce the spread of indirect infectious diseases while servicing refrigeration and air-condition equipment.

For more information and presentations, please contact the Montreal Protocol Division

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