Preventing the Dumping in Vulnerable Developing-Country Markets of Inefficient Cooling Equipment Using Obsolete Refrigerants

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. 

• 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.