Towards ‘green’ domestic appliances
ZIMBABWE has managed to secure a US$400 000 grant from the Multilateral Fund to capacitate local refrigerator makers to adopt carbon removal technologies that could help the country to tackle climate change.
Mr Washington Zhakata, director of Climate Change Management Department in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement, said this at a workshop on phasing down emissions of climate change-inducing hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
He said there are increasing signs of a seismic shift in the response by business and finance to the threat of runaway climate change.
The US$400 000 grant, he said, was secured to help local companies deliver new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in their refrigerator manufacturing operations.
The Multilateral Fund, which was established by parties to the Montreal Protocol in 1990, aims to assist developing country parties to reduce the level of consumption of the ozone depleting substances (ODS) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
HFCs are chemicals used in air-conditioning, refrigeration, foams and aerosols which are ozone-depleting substances that are being phased out
under the Montreal Protocol.
HFCs are among the seven greenhouse gases (GHGs) targeted by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Multilateral Fund provides significant support to developing countries which are targeting sustainable greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the operations of their local companies.
There is a local, regional and global push to encourage businesses to shift to cleaner energy technologies to reduce carbon emissions.
“The phasing out of the chlorofluorocarbon is important because they are highly destructive to the ozone layer,” said Mr Zhakata.
“Actions to cut emissions are critical in this regard and we are encouraging Capri to adopt new technologies to help Zimbabwe tackle climate pollution.
“Carbon-removal technology is important to avert an extreme increase in global temperatures.”
He said Capri and other companies should now adopt environmentally focused technology that will see them manufacturing energy-efficient refrigerators that do not use chlorofluorocarbons.
“In terms of compliance, the ozone-depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol have been found to be very harmful and destructive to the ozone layer,” Mr Zhakata said.
“Initially, that sector used to use the Chlorofluorocarbon that were highly destructive to the ozone layer. The private sector is slowly embracing the new cleaner technologies.
“As new technologies come on board, we need to sensitise the sector on the legislation available to govern usage of those gases, the importation and exportation.’’
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Montreal Protocol regional coordinator for Anglophone Africa Mr Patrick Salifu hailed Zimbabwe for its commitment to tackle climate change.
“I am pleased to announce that Zimbabwe has almost ratified the Kigali Amendment, they are barely left with one step where by the minister responsible for climate change has to present this case in Parliament and Zimbabwe will be considered ratified,” he said.
“We are making good progress in Africa. There are five countries which have been ratified and globally we have 73 countries which have ratified the Kigali Amendment and it is not too late for Zimbabwe.’’
The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer entered into force on January 1 2019 after ratification by 65 countries.
The Kigali Amendment aims to help countries reduce the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) to avoid global warming by up to 0,4 degrees Celsius this century.
The need for the Amendment emerged from the 1987 Montreal Protocol process, which controls ozone-depleting substances
“The Montreal Protocol is structured in a way that allows business to adopt cleaner technologies in a phased approach rather than shut down completely,” Salifu said.
“It’s a process and we should not panic. We have targets and we give time for countries to prepare themselves and companies to prepare too so that they are not out of business.
Lack of capital for cleaner efficient technologies poses a major problem to many companies in Zimbabwe and most African countries.
Many have outdated technologies that do not help reduce carbon emissions.
Climate change experts say that even if greenhouse-gas emissions were reduced significantly, stopping drastic global warming would require technological breakthroughs that can remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to a string of protocols on climate change which aim to build the resilience of people to the effects of climate change.
A number programmes are being implemented under the Montreal Protocol on refrigeration and air-conditioning to reduce ozone-depleting substances as well as ban fumigation in tobacco and agricultural production using chemicals with high levels of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) or ozone gases which deplete the ozone layer.
Under the Paris Agreement, Zimbabwe is targeting to reduce emissions in agriculture, mining and forestry and to reduce greenhouse gases by 23 percent per capita by 2030.
Mr Zhakata said Zimbabwe needs up to $7 billion to transform various sectors that emit carbon gases to become climate smart enterprises using cleaner technology.
The climate change agenda is a global programme, which seeks to address threats facing mankind such as declining water resources, reduced agricultural production, spread of animal and crop diseases, change of weather and climatic disasters due to effects of greenhouse gases on the ozone layer.
Experts say a HFC phase-down would avoid the equivalent of 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide and more than 0,5 degrees Celsius of warming by 2050, according to a report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
It would also bring significant energy efficiency benefits that past phase-outs have always catalysed when a refrigerant was changed, they further say.
A number programmes are being implemented under the Montreal Protocol on refrigeration and air-conditioning to reduce ozonedepleting substances as well as ban fumigation in tobacco and agricultural production using chemicals with high levels of hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs) or ozone gases which deplete the ozone layer.