COPA primarily supports countries from the Global South eligible for Official Development Assistance in creating effective greenhouse gas mitigation through ozone depleting substances (ODS) and hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) banks management. Partner countries receive access to technical and financial support to establish and further develop a regulatory framework and infrastructure to effectively address the global ODS and HFC banks problem. Countries are welcome to become members of the alliance and benefit from knowledge exchange and an international network of actors willing to jointly work on the sustainable management of ODS and HFCs. In the initial phase, COPA cooperates with China (Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China - Foreign Environmental Cooperation Office), Ghana (Ministry of Environment Science Technology and Innovation - Environmental Protection Agency), Mexico (Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico), Tunisia (Ministry of Environment of Tunisia) and Ecuador (Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries). COPA is working with the five countries to define country-specific commitments, develop project concepts and implement first pilot actions. The results and expertise can then be transferred and multiplied to other countries. COPA focuses on mitigation actions in metropolitan regions as ODS and HFC waste stocks mostly accumulate in densely populated areas.COPA PARTNER & MEMBER COUNTRIES
COPA COUNTRIES
Ecuador The recovery and destruction of the ODS banks in Ecuador are in an early stage. National ODS inventories have had only a few programs promoted by the Government. The most significant volume of ODS banks related to the RAC sector, and managed until today came from an equipment renewal program called "Renova Refrigeradora", which successfully substituted 93,987 domestic refrigerators and recovered 2.5 metric tonnes of CFC-12 and 175 Kg of HFC-134a. All recovered substances, i.e., CFC/HFC refrigerants, were later disposed of adequately in the UNACEM company's cement kiln in a project supported by UNIDO. The installed capacity in the cement company has continuously provided the refrigerants destruction service until now, free of charge, as part of the cement company's corporate environmental and social responsibility. Ecuador also has an Argon Plasma ODS destruction machine used solely for educational purposes. In August 2022, the Ministry of the Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition issued Agreement No. MAATE-2022-067, which defined the Instructions for applying the Extended Producer Responsibility in the Comprehensive Management of Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE, by its acronym in Spanish RAEE), but exclusively for equipment of domestic origin. The MAATE-2022-067 agreement establishes the administrative and technical requirements, procedures, and specifications for applying extended producer responsibility (REP) to WEEE using environmentally sound management practices. Currently, RAEE managers receive fewer RAC domestic equipment due to cultural behaviors and informal recycling habituated to inadequate final disposal practices, ineffective regulations, lack of knowledge, training, and ODS recovery equipment, and associated costs for ensuring circular economy conditions and environmentally sound final disposal. On the other hand, the country is installing a recovery, recycling, and reclamation network supported by UNIDO, the Government, and the academic sector. All the joint efforts from the Ministry of Production Foreign Trade Investments and Fisheries and the private and academic sectors aim to properly dispose of obsolete RAC equipment, recover refrigerants, and either reclaim those suitable refrigerants or destroy them if polluted. Once the network is up and running, the development of refrigerant collection centers in the country's main cities has also been planned, but Ecuador still has several challenges to face. The country's COPA strategy will consider the following aspects: UNDP is willing to support the partners to strengthen their systems for the reduction of ODS and HFCs banks emissions.
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