September 16 marks the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, a commemoration that carries particular weight this year as it coincides with the tenth anniversary of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. The theme chosen by the UN Environment Programme, « Global Action for a Cooler Planet, » captures the core issue of this edition: the increasingly tight link between protecting the stratospheric ozone layer and fighting climate change.
Adopted in 2016 in the Rwandan capital, the amendment organizes the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons, refrigerant gases that don’t harm the ozone layer but rank among the most potent greenhouse gases. UN Secretary-General António Guterres notes that fully implementing the agreement could alone prevent up to 0.5°C of warming by the end of the century, a figure that underpins his call for countries that haven’t yet ratified the text to do so.
The African continent finds itself at the heart of this climate equation, for reasons rooted in both geography and economics. Rising heat waves are driving up demand for air conditioning and refrigeration, a sector essential to both food security and public health. But that demand comes with a problem specific to the continent: the dumping of obsolete equipment from countries that can no longer legally sell it at home. Ghana alone seized nearly 60,000 used units between 2013 and 2020, a figure that illustrates the scale of the trade. These appliances, often energy-hungry and running on outdated refrigerants, harm the climate twice over while unfairly undercutting high-performance equipment.
In response, regional organizations like U-3ARC are pushing for minimum energy performance standards and the adoption of refrigerants with low global warming potential, while also stressing the need to train local technicians. The stakes go beyond environmental protection alone: according to these groups, the goal is to turn a climate constraint into a genuine economic opportunity for Africa’s sustainable cooling sector, one capable of creating jobs while meeting the continent’s growing needs.
In South Africa, the Western Cape government used the day to reinforce the basics: the ozone layer, which absorbs ultraviolet radiation between 15 and 35 kilometers above the earth, protects human health as well as land and marine ecosystems alike. Provincial authorities urged residents to favor well-maintained cooling equipment and renewable energy, two concrete steps that echo the spirit of the agreement signed a decade ago, just a few thousand kilometers away.