We support refrigerant measures in developing countries with Japan’s advanced technology and expertise.
Fluorinated gases used as refrigerants are traditionally controlled as Ozone Depleting Substances (such as CFC and HCFC). Now non-ODS refrigerants such as HFCs are becoming more popular, however, as they have high Global Warming Poential (GWP), and it is important to reduce releasing into the atmosphere. Reducing emissions of these powerful GHGs by implementing life cycle management of fluorocarbons is an important climate change mitigation in the cooling sector, together with converting to non-fluorinated refrigerants, as well as driving energy efficiency.
The OECC serves as the secretariat of the Initiative on Fluorocarbons Life Cycle Management (IFL) to support developing countries in increasing mitigation ambition and transparency, policy and legislative actions, training and capacity development, as well as introducing relevant technologies to introduce leakage, recovery, reclamation, recycling and destruction of refrigerants.
Many developing countries have not taken a step to include HFC reduction as their NDC. As part of the IFL program, supported by the MOEJ, the OECC elaborated a guidance for developing NDCs to reduce HFC emissions and has supported knowledge sharing. Also, OECC has supported developing inventories (e.g. HFC emissions inventory as part of National GHG inventory, as well as so-called “bank inventory”), which provide basis for transparency and mitigation actions.
In response to the Kigali Amendment and the Paris Agreement, developing countries urgently need to formulate policies in order to manage the lifecycle of HFC refrigerants from import to disposal. The OECC provides training for policy makers, technical guidance for draft policies and supports with organizing events at international negotiations.
We provide on-site training for various countries’ engineers who are responsible for the proper installation of air conditioning, refrigeration equipment and the recovery of refrigerants at the time of equipment disposal, with Japanese engineers as instructors. This ensures safe handling of high-pressure refrigerants, reducing refrigerant emissions into the atmosphere and improving energy efficiency of equipment.
As highly efficient equipment and low-GWP (Global Warming Potential) refrigerants are often expensive, initial investment at the time of installation is often a bottleneck especially in developing countries, even though energy savings may pay for the investment in the long run. It is also not easy to turn the disposal of used refrigerants into a profitable business. We help with project formation by supporting matching with appropriate financial resources and introducing policies that make refrigerant conversion and recovery measures necessary and advantageous.
At international negotiations, it is important to amplify solutions that are conducive to refrigerant emission control in order to obtain funding for these measures. By seizing opportunities in the Montreal Protocol and the Paris Agreement, we are able to develop events that help publicize our technical deliverables.
Vietnam is one of the countries in Southeast Asia that is actively working on the refrigerant management field, from institutional design to project implementation. The OECC provides support for policy formulation from general frameworks to technical standards related to refrigerant management and implements various training programs. The knowledge gained and lessons learned from these processes can be beneficial to other countries as well.
