The Accra-Helsinki Group on Sustainable Cooling: A Worthy Successor in the Tradition of Montreal Protocol Collaboration and Ambition to Protect the Earth

Bangkok, 7 July 2025 - The inaugural side event of the Accra-Helsinki Group on Sustainable Cooling was convened at the 47th Open-Ended Working Group Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, held in Bangkok, Thailand. Kofi Agyarko of Ghana co-chaired the event with Tapio Reinikainen of Finland. The Climate & Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) hosted the event. The Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) serves as the Group rapporteur and provides technical legal support.

The Accra-Helsinki Group evolved from predecessors in the Montreal Protocol community, the Toronto Group and Stockholm Group.  Similar to these predecessors, the Accra-Helsinki Group offers an open and informal forum for the Montreal Protocol community to discuss issues crucial to maintaining the ozone layer's protection, preventing catastrophic climate tipping points and feedbacks. The Accra-Helsinki Group, as reflected in its name and co-chairs, also fosters collaboration between developing and developed countries.

During the event, convened under the Chatham House Rule, Dr. Stephen Andersen, IGSD’s Director of Research (presenting also for Marco González), described the ambition-strengthening roles of the Accra-Helsinki Group predecessors in the Montreal Protocol history.

Denise San Valentin, CCAC Programme Management Officer, provided the audience with an update on the status of the CCAC project “Pathways to Stop Dumping of Climate-Harming Room Air Conditioners in Latin America and the Caribbean,” underway with implementing partners CLASP and IGSD, with report launch planned for the 37th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Nairobi, Kenya, 3-7 November 2025.

The co-chairs then invited Professor David Kanter, co-chair of the Nitrous Oxide Assessment, participating via remote connection, to provide the audience with a refresher on the key findings of the Assessment. Tad Ferris, IGSD’s Senior Counsel, followed with a review of the compelling governance history of the Montreal Protocol concerning nitrous oxide, starting with early negotiations leading to the adoption of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. Nathan (“BP”) Borgford-Parnell, CCAC Scientific Affairs Advisor, provided CCAC perspectives on the nitrous oxide assessment findings. Tom Nickson, Climate Campaigner at the Environmental Investigation Agency, then offered additional perspectives on the urgency of Montreal Protocol consideration of nitrous oxide control.

Question-and-answer exchanges with presenters occurred throughout the side event. The co-chairs concluded the event, noting that this Accra-Helsinki Group will provide a forum for raising important topics, such as those discussed today, on the sidelines of future meetings of the Montreal Protocol Parties, consistent with the traditions of the predecessor Toronto and Stockholm Groups. The co-chairs welcomed participants to invite colleagues to future sessions and feel free to propose topics to the co-chairs for consideration. At the co-chair’s invitation, Tad Ferris closed with a recommendation that the Accra-Helsinki Group support an ambitious Kigali +10 anniversary agenda.  

Links

• Planning Meeting for Accra-Helsinki Group, CCAC headquarters
• 47th OEWG Side Events, scroll down for Accra-Helsinki Group side event, 7 July 2025, with presentations