Online Event
Take off - new Steering Committee takes over Steering Wheel at the 3rd Plenary
"With challenging times all around the world, it is great to see people from so many countries working together to provide solutions for urgent climate change and ozone protection challenges." - Rachel Pekker, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE)
It was the third time that COPAs member came together for the annual Plenary Meeting on 2nd of July, 2025. During intensive four hours, Jomari Dizon Guillermo from UNDP guided the members to greet a new Steering Committee, farewelling the previous and getting an update on the activities, sessions and publications from COPA since the last meeting. It was even time for a short, fun quiz to test the members knowledge about COPA.
However, not only activity updates were on the agenda. In true COPA tradition, the Plenary also accomodated several Thematic Sessions provding insights into the current "hot topics" from the cooling sector.
The thematic sessions began with a deep-dive into Gender Mainstreaming in RAC Sector by Bettina Schreck from HEAT. Bettina is the coordinator of the Thematic Working Group for Implementation Models and shared her extensive experience from gender differences in the RAC Sector and explained what the barriers to women's paticipation in the RAC sector are. She also highlighted different gender action available and how these can be utilised to to overcome the existing barriers for a gender-balanced RAC work force. For example, by promoting women economic empowerment through entrepreneurship or by collecting sex-disaggregated data.
The following Finance session introduced a new business model for Cooling as a Service - CaaS - developed by Samuel Jacobs fromEnergy Partners in South Africa together with COPA. Samuel is one of the new private sector representatives in the new Steering Committee. He presented the concept of CaaS and the new business model. In contrast to traditional ownership models, CaaS free-up capital from the end-users, who only pay for the cooling used, not the equipment. Since the cooling is provided by experts, energy and cooling efficiency is assured and benefit the customer but also the environment, climate and ozone protection. It is as exciting as it sounds, so stay tuned to the COPA financial working group to learn more about CaaS in the future.
After a short break, the participants received insight from Martin Botha from A-Thermal in South Africa in a combined policy and technology session. Martin showcased best practices to approach Transboundary Movement Barriers for hazardous waste such as ODS and HFCs. His experiences were drawed from a real case, the COPA pilot for destruction of gases from Zimbabwe in a facility in South Africa. Lessons learned were generously shared , e.g. for overcoming time-enduring policy hurdles and how to best prepare for monitoring and permission requirements. Clear communication, compliance to local laws and correct application of Best Available Technology - or BAT processing - has proven valuable in these hinsights.
After the thematic sessions, Christin Johnen from GIZ Proklima communications team took over the moderation and guided the participants through an OPEN FORUM. This was the occasion for COPA members to exchange and interact directly with the new and old Steering Committee and the Secretariat. The questions and topics discussed included new and old topics for the working groups, potential of future projects, in-person exchanges and member networking.
Ellen Michel, head of COPA Secretariat, wrapped up the plenary togethter with the new Steering Committee Member and country representant Ms Igobe Gobsie Mbulawa from Botswana National Ozone Office.
In short, it was a day filled with information, exchange and insightful learning session on best practices. The new Steering Committee members emphasized the importance of the alliance work, connecting a wide range of members from around the globe and different sectors, and how they look forward to contribute to future success of COPA together with the members.
Access or view the Plenary Agenda and presentations through the links below:
2025 COPA Plenary Presentations and Agenda:
- Agenda 2025 COPA Plenary
- Gender Mainstreaming in RAC Sector Bettina Schreck, HEAT
- Cooling as a Service business case in South Africa Samuel Jacobs, Energy Partners
- Overcoming barriers to transboundary movement, lessons learned from A-Thermal in South Africa and Zimbabwe Martin Botha, A-Thermal
