Accra, Oct. 7, GNA – “Thanks to the 198 parties that have joined the Montreal Protocol to protect the stratospheric ozone layer and climate. Here in Ghana we appreciate the power of global citizens working together in troubled times for life on Earth.”
“At the Ghana Energy Commission, I quarterbacked government efforts for energy independence and affordable cooling.” But we couldn’t do it alone to change the status quo. I was beating my head against a rock!”
“Then one day I read an article in the Duke University’s Environmental Law and Policy Forum that gave me great hope. It claimed product dumping that caused environmental harm was analogous to price and labor dumping subject to international sanctions.”
“So I wrote to the authors asking how to turn legal theory into outcome, and to my surprise they wrote right back, offering partnership under the umbrella of the United Nations Treaty called the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol), the only UN Treaty agreed by every country on Earth.”
“To make a long story short: folks at the Montreal Protocol heard our voice and agreed that exporters and importers could work together to provide the same efficient cooling sold in countries that manufacture to the customers like Ghana that depend on imports.”
“Today affordable and efficient cooling products with friendly refrigerants are imported from China, Japan, Thailand, the United States and elsewhere.”
“The money saved on electricity is spent by families locally to improve the standard of living and quality of life, and the air is cleaner because less fossil fuel is burned.”
“If you are reading this Op-Ed, you live in a country that has joined the Montreal Protocol. So thanks to you from my fellow citizens and me in Ghana!”
GNA
Kofi Agyarko, retired from the Ghana Energy Commission and now CEO of the Center for Shared Responsibility and Technology Ambition (CSRTA)