ShareIJR editorial: The cop on climate change: a growing presence of refrigeration issues to be consolidated
The Conference of the Parties on climate change was held in Sharm-El-Sheikh (Egypt) from Sunday 6 November to Sunday 20 November 2022. Generally speaking, this COP did not result in the decisions and actions outlined at the previous COP in Glasgow in 2021, except for the issue of loss and damage.
IJR Editorial - January 2023
The Conference of the Parties on climate change was held in Sharm-El-Sheikh (Egypt) from Sunday 6 November to Sunday 20 November 2022. Generally speaking, this COP did not result in the decisions and actions outlined at the previous COP in Glasgow in 2021, except for the issue of loss and damage. The length of the negotiations (closing at 3am on Sunday instead of the usual Friday evening), which was quite exceptional, shows the difficulty of putting into practice the necessary actions, both in terms of mitigation and adaptation to climate change. As for loss and damage, it was decided to create a dedicated fund. But its constitution and allocation criteria have yet to be determined and this will doubtlessly take time.
In the refrigeration sector, however, things are moving. The IIR had a booth and organised a side event, in cooperation with other organisations (notably the European Heat Pump Association-EHPA), on 14 November. This was an opportunity to present the IIR's work with the World Bank, the European Union, Norway (Bangladesh, West Bengal, Guide to Storage, ENOUGH, SOPHIA, INDEE+, COOLFISH projects). The United Nations Environment Programme and the Cool Coalition have launched two other events on cooling. The IIR Director General presented a keynote statement.
More and more countries are including a national action plan on refrigeration as part of the "nationally determined contributions" that define their climate change plans. However, these plans are usually vague and it is our responsibility to help countries define them more precisely and put them in place. This is a key task for the IIR, in partnership with its entire network of cooling stakeholders.
We will try to strengthen our presence at the next COP in the United Arab Emirates in 2023 and, in the meantime, we will be pursuing our current projects and hope to set up new ones with you: the refrigeration sector has a major role to play in each country both in mitigating climate change and in adapting to it.
Didier Coulomb
IIR Directeur General