New IGSD Resource Guide on Preventing the Dumping of Inefficient Cooling Equipment Using Obsolete Refrigerants in Vulnerable Developing-Country Markets

8 October 2024 - The IGSD Resource Guide on Preventing the Dumping of Inefficient Cooling Equipment provides information and resources for government representatives and their advisors, researchers, academics, non-profit, philanthropic and other nongovernmental organizations, and other citizens to understand the practice of environmentally harmful dumping of new but energy-inefficient cooling equipment that uses high global-warming-potential refrigerants. The Resource Guide also provides insights for those working in other product areas, such as heavy-duty vehicles, involving environmentally harmful product dumping in vulnerable developing countries. The Resource Guide is available here.

• Section 1 defines terms and reviews how dumping damages the stratospheric ozone layer, forces climate change, endangers public health, and other harms arising from the practice. 
• Section 2 reviews relevant decisions of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund Executive Committee.
• Section 3 provides insights into the origins of the use of the word “dumping” from Montreal Protocol meeting reports as early as 1993 during the transition from chlorofluorocarbons. 
• Section 4 covers international and country-led initiatives highlighting the importance of preventing dumping and enabling vulnerable developing countries to gain access to life- and planet-saving next-generation cooling technology, with summaries of the Wilmington Declaration from Australia, India, Japan, and the United States (2024) and initiatives of the Climate & Clean Air Coalition. 
• Section 5 catalogs technical reports, workshop proceedings, and research papers contributing to understanding environmental dumping practices, and
• Section 6 includes examples of media coverage of environmental dumping.