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INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN

EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS

South Africa shines in HCFC phase out – will it repeat with Kigali Amendment HFC phase down ?

The Department of Forestry , Fisheries and the Environment ( DFFE ), together with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation ( UNIDO ) hosted workshops in Gauteng on 27 / 28 and in Cape Town on 30 / 31 March on the Kigali Agreement .

Igbal Sheik , an international expert from Pakistan who gave one of the presentations at the workshop on the topic , ‘ Data Management Procedure and Reporting ’, told Cold Link Africa on the sides that he rated South Africa “ very highly ” for its adherence and global commitment to reducing ozone depleting substances ( ODSs ) related to refrigerants in terms of the initial Montreal Protocol .

“ South Africa is one of the leading countries . The Montreal Protocol relates to HCFC phase out by 2040 , with the last 10 years being the tail end for the servicing sector . For industrial consumption , the endpoint is 2030 . South Africa committed to the Montreal Protocol , telling the Fund Secretariat that they were going to completely phase out HCFCs by 2028 – not only in the manufacturing but also in the servicing sector . I have not elsewhere seen such a commitment by any other Article 5 country .

“ The authorities in this country are fully aware , and I see no gaps in the strategy presented by government today which has generally identified the requirements . What I would suggest to them is that if they have not carried out the country assessment report to implement the Kigali Amendment then they should do so , and secondly should develop a legal framework for its implementation . Then it will be easier to make all the decisions required to be made ,” said Sheik .

“ Unless this is done , it raises the possibility that the strategy will not achieve complete coverage . For instance , it requires a one-window IT system which can be accessed by government and new stakeholders . The country by and large is managing the process carefully , because the Secretariats involved are regularly getting South Africa ’ s Article 7 reports such as CP data reports and progress reports . This aims at preventing any slippage into non-compliance with the resulting consequence . Currently South Africa ’ s compliance is excellent .

“ Many other countries have been declared non-compliant and penalties imposed , which are quite severe . Countries are given money from a multilateral fund for the implementation of the project , and where such countries are not able to do it they have to pay the penalties as per the agreement between the country and the Secretariat ,” said Sheik .

The United Nations is the implementing agency , but this project is controlled by the multilateral fund .

All photos by © Eamonn Ryan / RACA Journal

Igbal Sheik , international expert from Pakistan .

THE WORKSHOP OPENS DFFE ’ s Margaret Molefe was Master of Ceremonies and noted that importers and exporters of HCFCs and HFCs were soon to be locked into a system of phase down and an online application process relating to reporting requirements under the Kigali Amendment , which has so far been ratified by 148 countries or three-quarters of the world .

The workshop looked at alternatives to the phased-out refrigerants , as well as essential training on these natural refrigerants .

Natasha Kochova , project coordinator at UNIDO and part of the Montreal Protocol Unit , who has been working with the DFFE for six years on the HCFC Phase-out Management Plans ( HBMP ) stage one implementation and HFC ( hydrofluorocarbon ) stage two to follow , presented an overview of the Kigali Agreement with its ‘ freeze year ’ in 2024 and stepped phase down thereafter against baselines set .

The fundamental issue , she pointed out , is that consumption of high-GWP gases represent more than 97 % of the total consumption .

“ We see HFCs gases used in many applications and everyday lives . These gases are different to HCFCs in that they don ' t have an ozone depleting potential ( ODP ) but are nonetheless harmful for the climate for their global warming impact through global greenhouse gas emissions .

“ The HVAC & R sector is responsible for quite a portion of global greenhouse gases , from both direct emissions and indirect emissions , with indirect emissions considerably higher than direct emissions due to the energy consumption that goes into it . We have reduced CO 2 emissions

Natasha Kochova , project coordinator at UNIDO and part of the Montreal Protocol Unit .

already with the work that has been done . We cannot live without refrigeration from a human comfort perspective in public spaces or our homes , as well as in science and research – it ' s across the board ,” Kochova noted .

The refrigeration , air-conditioning and heat pump ( RACHP ) sectors account for almost 80 % of usage , with other sectors such as foam also using HCFCs . In terms of refrigeration , three-quarters of usage comes from the commercial side of refrigeration , followed by industrial .

The estimated ‘ bank ’ of systems operating worldwide is about three billion systems and they all consume energy and produce emissions . By 2050 , this number is expected to double . The majority of these refrigerants ( R400s or R500s ) have a high global warming potential , resulting in even more emissions in the atmosphere unless curbed and finally eliminated .

A selection of the attendees at what was a packed workshop .

Kochova said : “ The no . 1 means to reduce emissions is to change refrigerants to more environmentally friendly ones – low GWP options such as natural ones that do not have a high GWP potential . Some commonly used HCFCs and HFCs , R404 and R404a , have a high GWP potential close to 40 000 . The scale goes from as low as 675 for R32 to HFC 23 , which is a by-product of R22 , which is close to 20 000 .”

HOW CAN THE RACHP SECTOR REDUCE EMISSIONS ? The sector is responsible for 3.5 % to 4.5 % of the net energy intake on a global level , so reaching net zero targets requires action by the RACHP sector . “ So while the HFC phase down is important , a topic under discussion is , could the global RACHP sector commit to a gradual phase out ? And how fast ?” questioned Kochova .

She described the Kigali Amendment : “ It ’ s an amendment to the Montreal Protocol , dealing specifically with the HFC phase down and helping countries to come up with strategies , policies , legislation , training and appropriate technology standards , to reach reduction of phase down . It ’ s not a full phase out like the HCFCs but a gradual phase down . This was agreed in 2016 , and entered into force in 2019 . South Africa is a signatory of the Kigali Amendment on August 1 , 2019 . “ The main objective is to avoid an increase of HFC consumption during the work being done in HCFC phase out . This will be happening in parallel to avoid potential overlaps , though they ’ re different refrigerants : one is with OTP potential and one without OTP potentials but with high GWP .

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