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UN Environment and IIR reinforce partnership

In order to formalise their existing partnership, the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) and the UN Environment signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during the 31st Meeting of the parties to the Montreal Protocol (MOP).

The IIR and UN Environment sign a MOU


Rome Declaration: actions already underway!



In order to formalise their existing partnership, the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) and the UN Environment signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during the 31st Meeting of the parties to the Montreal Protocol (MOP).


Signed on November 6, 2019, by James Curlin (Network and Policy Manager at the UN Environment and Didier Coulomb (Director General of the IIR), the MOU between the IIR and UN Environment provides a framework of future cooperation and facilitates collaboration between the parties with an objective to promoting more sustainable refrigeration worldwide.


The two parties have enjoyed a long-standing partnership over many years, as Director General of the IIR, Didier Coulomb states “We have already worked with UN Environment a lot over the past decades, as well as with other UN bodies, however, this MOU is important to formalise and enhance our cooperation since we have many challenges to face in order to build sustainable cooling across the globe; and particularly in developing countries.”


Following the landmark statements of António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, at last year’s UN meetings which brought the refrigeration sector to the forefront on an international level, MOP 31 took place on November 4-8, 2019 in Rome (Italy) and was witness to the historic Rome Declaration.


Signed by 76 countries, the Rome Declaration highlighted the increasing importance of refrigeration at the heart of international affairs and called for the promotion of a sustainable cold chain across the globe.

This historic milestone confirmed the importance for the IIR and UN Environment to solidify their future collaborations by signing a MOU.


Future actions in favour of a sustainable cold chain


With this forward-looking perspective, the IIR has since undertaken the following actions:


  • reached out to contacts in developing countries not currently involved in our intergovernmental organisation
  • Cold Chain Briefs; the five IIR-UNEP publications published in English in 2018, will soon be available in French and Spanish
  • a new IIR Informatory Note on “The role of refrigeration in worldwide nutrition” will soon be published
  • several workshops will be organised with our United Nations partners (UNIDO, UN Environment, FAO…) during the upcoming IIR Conference on Sustainability and the Cold Chain on April 15-17, 2020, in Nantes (France).



View the statement delivered by the IIR at MOP 31