The National Ozone Unit (NOU) in the Energy Division of the Ministry of Finance and Energy, under the ‘Cool Contribution fighting Climate Change’ (C4) project, organised a national consultation for stakeholders from the refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) sector in Grenada.
The consultation, hosted in partnership with GIZ, introduced and informed on the upcoming national inventory of emissions and the energy and refrigerant use in the RAC sector. It also aimed at providing information on the methodology and approach to be used in conducting the inventory survey and to gain stakeholder co-operation and feedback needed for a successful outcome.
GIZ representative Marion Geiss remarked “With the inventory, we hope to know what is the exact contribution of the RAC sector to Grenada’s Global Warming Potential, and to highlight HFC refrigerants, as they are getting phased out around the world, they will become less available and more expensive to procure. Therefore, we want to make sure Grenada is ready to take advantage of Natural Refrigerants.”
The participants were sensitised on the impacts of harmful refrigerant gases on the environment and received information about the alternatives available to them. The programme included presentations from local and international experts on current technology and refrigerant alternatives in the RAC sector and updates on international treaties affecting the RAC markets. O’Neal Peters, Marketing Manager at SP’s International Trading, stated his expectations from the meeting were to get updates on the state of the market to improve his business and make sure that his product offering is up-to-date.
Grenada, being a signatory to most of the multilateral environmental agreements, including the Montreal Protocol, is required to phase out the consumption of Ozone Depleting Substances and other high global warming gases consumed in the RAC sector and replace them with environmentally friendly alternatives, such as natural refrigerants. Grenada also made commitments under the Nationally Determined Contributions of the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
With the challenges presented by the adverse effects of climate change and general concerns about the quality of our environment, the Government of Grenada, through the National Ozone Unit, continues to plan and implement a number of measures to reduce the environmental impact of these gases used in the RAC sector.
Kim Frederick, Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Energy in her remarks said, “The Montreal Protocol, by meeting and surpassing its targets, is the most successful international environmental agreement to date and that has happened largely due to the level of national and international cooperation that took place. The C4 project exemplifies one of these co-operations.”
The global program ‘Cool Contribution fighting Climate Change’ (C4), being implemented by the National Ozone Unit (NOU), in conjunction with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) as part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) promotes the accelerated international control of ozone depleting as well as high global warming potential substances. It also aims to increase energy efficiency in the RAC sector.
Furthermore, the project supports Grenada, as one of its partner countries, in formulating national mitigation strategies in the RAC sector and thereby advancing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Ministry of Finance and Energy
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