All set for the 20th European Conference with the United Nations

The 20th edition of the European Conference of the United Nations and the Centro Studi Galileo, which will return to the historical venue of the Politecnico di Milano on the 8^th-9^th June this year, is fast approaching. More than forty presentations are expected from leading experts in the HVACR (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Heat Pumps) sector, which will provide participants with a comprehensive and wide-ranging picture of what the new rules will represent for years to come.

For over 20 years, Centro Studi Galileo together with the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) have organised training and conferences to share-knowledge and educate the wider audience in topics surrounding climate change, namely sectors including Refrigeration and Heat Pumps which currently absorb 20-25% of the total electricity consumption. Refrigeration is considered a vital technology for the sustainability of society and for this reason it must continue to develop and expand. Last year, throughout Europe, the use of Heat Pumps grew by 38% and globally by 11%. Expediting solutions to aid the climate crisis is a key element of the joint work carried out by CSG and UNEP.

Under the patronage of the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security, the European Conference has been a reference for the entire sector for almost forty years, a fixed appointment to keep up to date with a selection of world-renowned authors. As always, it will be organised thanks to the joint efforts of some of the main European organisations in the sector: in addition to Centro Studi Galileo and UNEP OzonAction, the event is co-organised by ATF (Italian Association of Refrigeration Technicians), IIF/IIR (International Institute of Refrigeration, Paris), AREA (Union of twenty-four European refrigeration associations) and REI (Renewable Energy Institute is the Centro Studi Galileo’s partner based in Edinburgh).

To mitigate the climate crisis, there is an urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass. The renewable energy industry has been growing rapidly in recent years, driven by falling costs, technological advancements and government policies that support clean energy deployment. With this rapid growth comes the urgent need for more trained personnel. The Renewable Energy Institute (REI) works to provide accredited training to individuals and corporations throughout the world in a multitude of varying renewable energy technologies. The REI continues to deliver training of the highest standard to ensure the most sought-after roles are filled; some of these roles include Project Managers, Technicians, Installers, Consultants and Researchers.

The European Conference will also be characterised by the achievement of a very important milestone: it will in fact celebrate its twentieth edition, a historic occasion that once again confirms the event's extraordinary contribution to one of the main and crucial industrial sectors of the world in which we live, a sector in which Europe and Italy stand out as an absolute excellence worldwide.

The full programme of the event is already available on the official Centro Studi Galileo website, the main organisation for training in refrigeration since the 1970s. The spotlight will be on a number of key points, from the growth of Heat Pumps (the European Union, with the RePowerEU project, expects to install over sixty million of them in the next decades) to the new European legislation on Fluorinated Gases, or F-Gases, which promises to be the most resounding shake-up, the evolution of the industry in decades to come and its hopeful, radical change in the way industries perform. The key role of training will also be highlighted: without properly trained technicians, it is impossible to proceed with any technological advancements.

Speakers from all over the world, including researchers and scientists from Asia, Africa and North America, are expected to address the audience with more than forty keynote speeches of the highest technical level and insights into regulatory frameworks and the latest technical innovations.

The event has been preceded by seminars and side events, in particular the conference organised by Centro Studi Galileo and Sapienza University of Rome in the capital, focused on energy efficiency and heat pumps, topics that will be widely debated during the conference, in which the Italian Ministry also participated.

The event is scheduled to take place on the 8th and 9th June at the Politecnico di Milano. Those wishing to attend can book their place directly through the official Centro Studi Galileo website, www.centrogalileo.it/conference, in the meantime you can keep up to date with the event by following the #XXEUConfRAC tag on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.