Ashgabat, 30 September - 2 October 2019 - The Government of Turkmenistan hosted a series of meetings and a full-day stakeholder consultation with high-level Government representatives and experts, during the 3-day visit of Mr. Gilbert Bankobeza, Senior Legal Officer of the Ozone Secretariat in Nairobi, and Mr. Halvart Koeppen, Coordinator of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Montreal Protocol Network of UNEP OzonAction in Paris. The objective of their joint mission was to facilitate the early ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, to explain the necessity and advantages of an early ratification of the amendment, and to monitor the progress of the enabling activities project which pursues similar objectives.
The Kigali Amendment aims to phase-down the production and consumption of high global warming hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) to 80-85% below baseline by 2045-2047, which means over a relatively short period of 25-27 years. Thus, it transformed the Montreal Protocol for the Protection of the Ozone Layer into a climate agreement which might avoid global warming by 0.4 degrees Celsius by 2100, if implemented by all parties according to schedule. This would be a significant contribution to the targets of the Paris Agreement on climate projection which has already been ratified by Turkmenistan. In September 2019, the Honorable President of Turkmenistan, Mr. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, adopted Turkmenistan’s revised climate strategy which stipulates the ratification of the Kigali Amendment by the end of 2019 or beginning of 2020.
Mr. Makhtumkuly Akmuradov, Head of Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, equally expressed support for the ratification of the Kigali Amendment. Back in 2008, he was instrumental in the ratification of the Montreal, Copenhagen and Beijing Amendments to the Montreal Protocol, when he was the Minister of Nature Protection. He suggested preparing an action plan with tentative activities of a future HFC phase-down project to facilitate the ratification process. This action plan has been drafted on the last day of the mission jointly with staff of the Montreal Protocol Unit, UNDP Turkmenistan, the local experts of the enabling activities project as well the representatives of Ozone Secretariat and OzonAction. Certainly, Turkmenistan is on track to ratify the Kigali Amendment soon.
The stakeholder consultation on 2 October 2019 was attended by more than 50 high-level Government representatives including Parliament, National Montreal Protocol Unit, Ministries of Agriculture and Environment Protection, Foreign Affairs, Defense, Energy, Health and Medical Industry, Education, Construction and Architecture, Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, Industry and Communication, Road and Railway Transport, State Customs Service, State Committee of Statistics, Academy of Science, Union of Industrialists as well as UNDP Turkmenistan, private sector investment and construction companies and local experts.
The representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, Mr. Jumamurad Saparmuradov, opened the meeting and highlighted Turkmenistan’s commitment to climate protection and the implementation of the Paris Agreement, which is demonstrated by the recent adoption of the revised climate strategy.
Mr. Batyr Ballyyev, Manager of UNDP Turkmenistan’s project on sustainable cities, referred to the ongoing climate change projects in the country and highlighted the threat of climate change to agriculture, water resources, sustainable development. Energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies are an important aspect of the sustainable development plan.
The representatives of the National Montreal Protocol Office, Ms. Anzhela Gaziyeva and Ms. Myahri Saparova, explained the main provisions of the Kigali Amendment, the status of the enabling activities project to promote early ratification, the countries commitment towards climate protection and implementation of UN sustainable development goals and recent enforcement initiatives. Local experts briefed on the legislative context, the situation in the refrigeration and air-conditioning sector and the availability of alternative technologies in Turkmenistan.
The representative of the Ozone Secretariat, Mr. Gilbert Bankobeza, highlighted the need that all countries, whether big or small, ratify the Kigali Amendment as soon as possible since climate change is a global challenge and not respecting land borders. It will not only contribute to reducing global warming but to most of the UN sustainable development goals including health, food security, poverty alleviation, innovation, sustainable cities etc. Early ratification will provide access to financial and technical support to meet the phase-down provisions.
The representative of UNEP OzonAction, Mr. Halvart Koeppen, added that theoretically, countries could delay the ratification until 2032 which is in 12 years. This would be the latest date to avoid the trade ban for HFCs between parties and non-parties to the Kigali Amendment, which could brutally cut the supply of HFCs needed for servicing existing air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. However, extrapolating the current speed of ratification, most countries can be expected to have ratified by mid-2023.
The earlier the ratification takes place, the earlier countries can act and the smoother the phase-down will be. Without early action, the HFC consumption can be expected to grow 10-12% annually and the continued import of HFC equipment will increase dependency on HFCs for servicing existing equipment. If Article 5 Group 1 countries wait with the ratification until the freeze period in 2024-2028, their HFC consumption will have grown significantly above the baseline and more HFC equipment will have been imported requiring increasing amounts of HFCs for servicing. Nevertheless, countries would need to reduce their consumption below the baseline level shortly after ratification and without additional financial support. This might require a “forced reduction” through imposed import quotas rather than reducing the demand for HFCs. In such a situation, usually HFC prices increase and illegal trade is blooming. Such a situation could be avoided by early ratification.
Understanding the HFC phase-down also helps to gain confidence that the targets can be met. In most sectors, alternative technologies are readily available and could be introduced on a large scale in the local market. And for the more difficult sectors, HFCs will still be available for servicing since it is not a phase-out. Also, the fact that some high-global warming HFCs will be replaced by lower-global warming p HFCs will allow the import of bigger quantities of lower global warming HFC since consumption, imports and quota are measured in CO2 equivalents and not in metric tons. Some enabling conditions are required such as the availability of training service technicians on the safe use of flammable, high pressure and toxic refrigerants or the adoption of safety standards. An important aspect is also the cut-off date of 2020 for new HFC installations, which means that HFC installations such as chillers installed in 2020 or later will not be eligible for financial assistance to convert to alternative refrigerants.
Article 5 countries which have already ratified, are eligible to include preparatory projects in the business plans of the implementing agencies for 2020 and might submit their HFC phase-down projects for approval in 2021 once the funding guidelines have been agreed. This would allow them taking early action e.g. implementing policy measures, providing training and certification on the safe use of flammable, high pressure and toxic refrigerants, adopting safety and performance standards and establishing equipment log-books. The later the ratification takes place, the longer will be the funding gap between enabling activities projects and the preparation of HFC phase-down projects, and the later related activities will be initiated.
Countries might also consider that the indirect emissions from power production are much more important than the direct emissions from refrigerant leakages. Thus, the aspect of energy-efficiency needs to be considered in any HFC phase-down strategy and progressive countries should consider public procurement policies, energy efficiency labelling, minimum energy-performance standards (MEPs), incentive schemes and financial instruments.
In the Europe and Central Asia region, Albania, Armenia and Montenegro already ratified the Kigali Amendment. Kyrgyzstan expects ratification shortly and Serbia also intends to ratify early 2020. Globally, 86 countries ratified as of 23 October 2019. The Ozone Secretariat is looking forward to the 100th ratification before the end of 2019. Go for it !
For further information
Ms. Anzhela Gaziyeva, Email: ozoneturkm@gmail.com
Mr. Gilbert Bankobeza, Email: gilbert.bankobeza@un.org
Mr. Halvart Koeppen, Email: halvart.koppen@un.org
