Mexico. In order to stimulate the use of low-impact refrigerants and energy efficiency schemes in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector to mitigate global warming, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Energy, CONUEE and the United Nations led the preparatory work to move towards a national cooling strategy.
The meeting was attended by representatives of various agencies of the Mexican government, the refrigeration and air conditioning industry and civil society organizations, as well as staff from academia and international agencies to establish the bases of this strategy.
The Undersecretary of Development and Environmental Regulations of Semarnat, Julio César Trujillo Segura, explained that this public policy tool will lay the foundations for establishing actions in four main areas: the elimination of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) that damage the ozone layer; the reduction of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that have a high global warming potential; increasing energy efficiency and equitable and environmentally friendly access to refrigeration and air conditioning.
He said that the document to be developed will aim to contribute to the fulfillment of national and international commitments before the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment, through the realization of strategic projects.
It should be noted that these projects directly involve different sectors and seek the reduction of refrigerants that contribute to global warming, opening the way to the use of those that have a low environmental impact and that, combined with energy efficiency schemes, will maximize environmental, economic and social benefits.
For his part, the Director General of the National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy (Conuee), Odón de Buen Rodríguez, referred to the fact that air conditioning today is an energy service whose demand has placed it at the peak of electricity demand, according to data from the Ministry of Energy, therefore, it considered it appropriate to draw up this national cooling strategy, which also refers to measures to adapt to climate change.
The Strategy will also seek to help meet the mitigation targets of the Nationally Determined Contributions of the Paris Agreement and be framed within the objectives of the 2030 Agenda.
During the event, participatory dynamics were carried out in which the opinions of the specialists who attended on behalf of the sectors involved in the cooling issue were collected.
It is expected that the integration of the draft document will be ready in the coming months, for subsequent public consultation and institutional review.
The presentation was attended by Victor David Palacios Gutierrez, General Director of Natural Gas and Petrochemicals of the Ministry of Energy; Sandra Sosa, deputy resident representative of the United Nations Development Program - UNDP Mexico, and Yutsil Sanginés Sayavedra, Director General of Policies for Climate Change of Semarnat.
