VATIS UPDATE Article

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India, announced an ambitious collaborative R&D programme to develop next generation, sustainable refrigerant technologies as alternatives to HFCs. This R&D initiative brings together Government, research institutes, industry and civil society to develop long term technology solutions to mitigate impact of currently used refrigerant gases on the ozone layer and climate. With this initiative, India reaffirms its commitment to working with all other nations to safeguard the Earth’s natural ecosystem.

Some of the key players include the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and its allied institutions; Department of Science and Technology; Centre for Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences; as well as key industry players in the sector. Members of this initiative have already had multiple rounds of consultation to reach a consensus on the contours and decide on the roadmap for this initiative. India has a small carbon footprint at citizen level and its sustainable lifestyle results in low contribution of the country to overall emissions of greenhouse gases and ozone depleting substances (ODS), as compared with other developed countries.

However, there is an urgent need for developing new technologies indigenously as alternatives available today are patented apart from being expensive. A research based programme to look for cost effective alternatives to the currently used refrigerant gases is, therefore essential.