Colombia. The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, as part of its actions to protect the ozone layer and mitigate climate change, recently reiterated its commitment to strengthening the operational and human capacities of the technical service areas of the refrigerator manufacturing companies present in Colombia.
Through the Ozone Technical Unit (UTO) of the Ministry, and in coordination with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), they announced the delivery of tools to companies for the safe handling of hydrocarbon-type refrigerants.
The donation is part of the HCFC Consumption Elimination Management Plan Stage II project, and was made in synergy with the NAMA Project for domestic refrigeration, implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation GIZ. (HCFCs are hydrochlorofluorocarbons.)
From these projects, collaboration agreements were established with the companies Challenger S.A.S., Industrias Haceb S.A. and Mabe Colombia S.A.S. for the strengthening of their technical capacities, assuming the commitment to promote actions of promotion, training and dissemination of Good Environmental Practices in refrigeration in activities of installation and maintenance of domestic refrigeration equipment.
These activities include the recovery of fluorinated refrigerants (hydrochlorofluorocarbons or HCFCs and hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs) and their environmentally sound management, actively participating in the programming and realization of theoretical-practical workshops for the safe handling of hydrocarbon-type refrigerants and promoting certification processes of their technicians and authorized workshops.
These agreements are an important step in the fulfillment of the country's commitments to the Montreal Protocol, related to the adoption of technologies that allow eliminating the consumption of substances with a negative impact on climate stability.
"Positive impact": Minister
The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Carlos Eduardo Correa, stressed that the activities developed under scenarios of cooperation, coordination, collaboration and mutual interest between the Government and the productive sector contribute to the country's solutions to environmental problems, "such as the depletion of the ozone layer and global warming." He added: "These actions positively impact not only the technical staff that performs the maintenance functions themselves, but all users of domestic refrigerators in the country."
Justo Sánchez, director of Research and Development at Challenger, said that these agreements "potentiate private companies, achieving alignment in the face of the new regulations and the country's objectives in terms of the environment and rational use of energy."
For her part, Ana María Fernández Gómez, director of the Haceb Foundation, highlighted: "We are a company aware of the importance of continuing to grow hand in hand with sustainability, which is why all actions are aimed at generating more and more value to society; one of our great pillars is the development of an increasingly sustainable manufacturing, where respect for people, care and protection of the environment are transversal to our business activity, providing solutions and actions for all our stakeholders".
The collaboration agreements will benefit, in the case of Mabe Colombia, about 110 technicians who will now have state-of-the-art equipment for the safe handling of refrigerant gases when providing their service in homes. "This guarantees the safety of the user and the employee," said Ivan Zepeda, Mabe's Andean vice president.
A necessary contribution
The delivery of the tools by the Minambiente contributes to the processes of good practices. Fernández Gómez, from Haceb, explains why: "Our sustainability system is based on a social, environmental and economic strategy that helps us not only to guarantee the continuity of the company, but also to constantly build strategies that generate more value to society, providing an efficient and responsible technical service, through our direct technicians and allies that meet the expectations of our consumers, generating well-being, security and tranquility."
Sánchez, from Challenger, noted that the tools provide its employees with the "best conditions in terms of training and instruments to carry out their work, as well as being more demanding in the development of products so that they comply with the regulatory guidelines, managing to contribute to the environment with the rational use of electrical energy."
Zepeda, from Mabe, said that the company includes in its sustainability model lines of action to address aspects related to climate change, ozone and air quality. "Sustainability is a fundamental part of our business strategy. This agreement comes to contribute to our efforts, which are aimed at ensuring the safe use of a refrigerant gas that does not deplete the ozone layer and that, in addition, has a positive impact on the efficiency of our equipment," he said.
