BeyondHFCs analysis of the TEAP report
[ added 17 June, 2010 ]
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BeyondHFCs presented its analysis of the latest TEAP report at the 30th Open Ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol that is being held in Geneva this week. The campaign raises a number of issues where the report could have done better and in order to sensitise policy makers, BeyondHFCs has distributed its position to the national delegations attending the event.
Since the 29th Open Ended Working of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, a number ofstakeholders have raised their voices requesting a greater recognition of the role that natural refrigerants can play in the context of the global implementation of the Montreal Protocol and the phase out of ozone depleting substances, HCFCs.
BeyondHFCs has been calling upon the TEAP to undertake a thorough analysis of the
environmental potential that natural refrigerants have in the context of the ozone protection, given that all natural refrigerants including carbon dioxide, ammonia and hydrocarbons have an ODP equal to zero. In addition to this, the market uptake of natural refrigerants is nowadays
indisputable and there is enough market experience in place that the TEAP could reflect in its
annual analysis of the trends in the heating, cooling and refrigeration sector.
The 2010 TEAP report falls unfortunately short in providing an accurate analysis of the potential
that natural refrigerants present as replacements to HCFCs. Their contribution in the fight against ozone depletion is often downplayed, if not completely overseen.
Natural refrigerants are substances that have been used since more than 100 years in different
processes, which should justify a closer look at their properties and applications to date. The latest TEAP report has concentrated some amount of analysis to substances that are much more recent or that have not even been marketed yet which contrasts with the poor attention given to all natural refrigerants: ammonia, hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide. As a point of comparison, the chemical substance 1234yf is mentioned close to seventy times in the report, whereas ammonia is only mentioned 23 times and carbon dioxide 44. Clearly, hydrocarbons score the lowest given that they are only mentioned 17 times by the paper.
Why is BeyondHFCs calling for the greater uptake of natural refrigerants? Because it is the best
way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the heating, cooling and refrigeration sector
worldwide in an inexpensive and safe way.
The Austrian based International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis has released a report
(‘Potentials and costs for mitigation of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union until 2030’ interim report ) it has conducted for the European Commission, showing that baseline F-gas emissions in EU-27 are expected to increase by 10% until 2020 and by 25% until 2030. In contrast, overall baseline emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse gases are estimated to decline by 13% between 2005 and 2020.
In its position paper, BeyondHFCs indicates where the TEAP report could have done better,
based on sound science applied in real life examples.
To download the BeyondHFCs presentation click here.
To download the BeyondHFCs position paper click here.
To download the 2010 TEAP report, Volume 1 click here.
To download the 2010 TEAP report, Volume 2 click here.
