25e Conférence des Parties sur le changement climatique (en anglais)

The 25^th Conference of the Parties on climate change, held in Madrid on December 2-14, 2019, was unable to obtain practical conclusions on mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

 

On this occasion, the Director General of the IIR participated to an Eureka event organised by EPEE on European - and more particularly Spanish - policies and delivered a statement during the high level segment on climate change:

 

Recently ? this year at the G7 and the UN meetings ? the refrigeration sector, which includes cold chain, air conditioning, cryogenics and heat pumps, was brought to the spotlight almost for the first time. With the words of Mr. Antonio Guterres:

 

“Implementation of the Kigali Amendment will be front and centre for climate action. We need all countries to develop national cooling action plans to deliver efficient and sustainable cooling and bring essential life preserving services like vaccines and safe food to all people. We are calling for concrete and enhanced actions from industry. The leadership of global leading companies is essential to realize the vision into reality.”

 

Let us recall some figures:

• According to our estimates, refrigeration in all its applications represents nearly 20% of the electricity consumed in the world and this figure is constantly increasing.
• Energy consumption accounts for almost two thirds of the impact of refrigeration on climate change, while direct emissions of fluorinated gases contribute to the rest. Improving energy efficiency, phasing-out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and reducing the emissions and use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) should be carried out simultaneously and as of now.

 

Still we must not forget that refrigeration is essential for human life and welfare.

 

The IIR works to achieving the sustainability goals in refrigeration, in partnership with UN agencies and programs, and international companies.

 

The IIR is at your disposal to accompany you in this essential journey.

 

Thank you

 

Each country shall send new commitments completing, and hopefully reinforcing, those presented before COP 21 in Paris in 2015, before November 2020, and next COP in Glasgow (United Kingdom). We shall try to include strategies and actions on cooling in these national documents.

 

The statements are also available in English and in French on the IIR website.