Since the launch of the first World Refrigeration Day (WRD) in the margins of the Second Global Inter-Regional and Parallel Network Meetings for National Ozone Officers in February 2019, UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) OzonAction has been actively engaged as a main partner with the WRD Secretariat to promote this celebratory day for the refrigeration and air conditioning sector. OzonAction participated in the successfully WRD campaigns in 2019 and 2020, which addressed the importance of refrigerants and the cold chain, respectively. We are now preparing to celebrate this year's edition of WRD and encourage National Ozone Units, associations, and industry in this sector to do the same.
The theme for World Refrigeration Day 2021 is “Cooling Champions: Cool Careers for a Better World.”
The goal of the campaign is to inspire students and young professionals in all countries, both women and men, to meet the challenges faced by their communities by pursuing careers in this vital sector.
For this year’s campaign, OzonAction and the WRD Secretariat are joining with key international partners: ASHRAE, European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE), Federation of Ibero-American Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Associations (FAIAR), International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE), and Union of Associations of African Actors in Refrigeration and air-Conditioning (U-3ARC).
Refrigeration is at the very heart of modern life. Some 12 million people are employed worldwide in the refrigeration sector. The total number of refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat-pump systems in operation worldwide is around 3 billion. Those systems provide the conditions we require for health, comfort, work productivity, manufacturing, as well as essential environments for food, pharmaceuticals, and digital data. Dedicated professionals design, build, maintain, and regulate them and also train and educate a new generation of practitioners. Their work is essential for the success of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer since many of the refrigerants they work with are ozone depleting and/or contribute to climate change.
For the last three decades, in UNEP's capacity as an Implementing Agency of the Protocol's Multilateral Fund, OzonAction has been at the heart of the battle to promote best practices and state-of-the-art technologies for the refrigeration and air-conditioning sectors to eliminate the use of ozone depleting substances and minimize the use of high global warming potential substances. It continues to assist developing countries with building capacities, certifying servicing technicians, developing local standards/codes, and advancing the use of sustainable ozone/climate-friendly technologies. OzonAction cooperates closely with refrigeration and air conditioning associations as well as refrigeration environmental experts to deliver these services.
Through the WRD-2021, UNEP OzonAction will cooperate with the campaign partners to shed light on areas, dimensions and opportunities that future refrigeration and air-conditioning engineers, practitioners and experts need to consider for the industry to engage in a better society and sustainable communities. It is also hoped that the campaign will encourage more women and men to become interested in this sector – including its environmental protection dimension - as their professional career path.