On 18-19 february 2019, AREA President Marco Buoni participated in the second global network meeting of the United Nations Environment OzonAction. 

Mr. Buoni took part in 3 events during the meeting:

  • The Expert’s session about training and certification, where all 140 National Ozone Units (NOUs) from the ministries of environment of developed countries asked direct questions in different sessions, following a guideline.

The aim of the session was to support the implementation of the next stage of the phase-down of refrigerants: moving to low GWP refrigerants which are often flammable, therefore requiring training and a certification scheme for technicians.

 

  • The AREA President also presented the Universal Training Kit for Alternative Refrigerants which has now entered in its second phase following a second contract between AREA and UNEP.

The project aims to develop a guide (a kit) to initiate training on alternative refrigerants with manuals, PowerPoint presentations, syllabus, curriculum, instructor’s guide and minimum requirements for the equipment.

 

  • In the European and Central Asia Network meeting, lead by Halvart Koeppen of UNEP, AREA President presented “Real Alternatives” and several new countries asked to join (Armenia and Albania). Thanksto the availability of the Russian language within the project, many Central Asian countries can also benefit.

 

The plenary session launched World Refrigeration Day, which was created with the support of AREA, where Stephen Gills of IOR gave a presentation (VIDEO)