International. In response to the latest scientific report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the World Refrigeration Day secretariat said there are technological solutions for refrigeration that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"However, business leaders and policymakers require bold action to accelerate the transition. Now is the time for the refrigeration community to embrace new technologies and train technicians in their safe and energy-efficient application. Long-term commitments must be accompanied by immediate action."
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the latest climate action report a "code red for humanity." The research behind the report found that climate change is widespread, rapid and intensifying. It points to the need for strong and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to limit climate change.
Nations are "nowhere near" the level of action needed to combat global warming, the report says. It urges countries to adopt stronger and more ambitious plans to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. The IPCC report comes just three months before the UN climate conference, COP26, to be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
Cooling is critical to human health, nutrition, comfort, and the creation of products that are used in daily life. One example is the cold chain used to supply food. Nutritionists estimate that 40 to 50% of all fruits and vegetables in some countries are wasted, and up to a third of all food fit for human consumption spoils before it can be consumed. And with the world still in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, refrigeration has made it possible to distribute life-saving vaccines to people around the world. The industry predicts that global demand for refrigeration will increase 2.7-fold over the next 30 years.
The climate action report states: "Assuming that the implementation and efficient enforcement of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and current national plans limit emissions, the effects of HFCs on the global average surface air temperature, relative to 2019, would remain below +0. 02°C from 2050 versus about +0.04–0.08°C in 2050 and +0.1–0.3°C in 2100 considering only national HFC regulations decided before the Kigali Amendment. Further improvements in the efficiency of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment during the transition to low global warming potential refrigerants would bring additional GHG reductions that would result in benefits for climate change mitigation and, to a lesser extent, for air quality due to the reduction of air pollutant emissions from power plants."
HFCs are a refrigerant classification commonly used worldwide in refrigeration and air conditioning applications.
World Refrigeration Day believes that a commitment is required from facility owners, the chemical industry, technology providers, field professionals and industry associations to ensure the deployment of a low global warming potential (low GWP, energy efficiency technologies and chemicals in refrigeration, air). conditioning and heat pump sectors. Along with the continued commitment of policymakers to update building and energy-related codes and regulations, the most severe consequences of climate change may be limited, especially as demand for refrigeration increases in the coming decades as populations grow."
World Refrigeration Day is a celebration of refrigeration's essential contribution to quality of life. Its secretariat partners with governmental and non-governmental groups on public awareness campaigns and serves as a year-round clearinghouse detailing the benefits of refrigeration and related technologies while promoting practices that support environmentally sustainable applications. The day is celebrated on June 26, marking the birthday of Lord Kelvin, the nineteenth-century scientist who invented the international absolute temperature system.
In 2019, World Refrigeration Day and the United Nations Environment Programme OzonAction launched a campaign to educate the industry about the benefits of the new generation of refrigerants that limit greenhouse gas emissions and provided training to cooling technicians on their safe use. In 2020, they partnered on a campaign to explain best practices in the cold chain for preserving food and distributing medicines and vaccines.
And this year, World Refrigeration Day, OzoneAction and six partnerships with networks that reached around the world, promoted "Cooling Champions: Races for a Better World," a series of webinars, conducted in multiple languages, that outlined the exciting job opportunities in various fields that await people who choose to pursue a career in refrigeration.
