Africa struggles to regulate climate cooling sector as demand grows

ABUJA, Nigeria —

As the sun shines in Abuja, Ahmed Bukar turns on his air conditioner to circulate a jet of warm air. The cooling gas that powers the unit is leaking from the unit’s charging valve. A technician had recently helped him fill the air conditioner with gas, but he did not test for leaks.

In Abuja and across Nigeria, air conditioners are mushrooming on walls, a luxury appliance for the middle class becoming a necessity in an increasingly hot climate. The sector is governed by regulations that prohibit the release of cooling gases into the air, for example by conducting leak tests after a unit is repaired. Yet the regular release of gases into the atmosphere due to shoddy installations, unsafe disposal at the end of use or adding gas without leak testing is a common problem in Nigeria, albeit illegal.

Refrigerant gases, or coolants, have a global warming potential hundreds or thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide, and the worst of them also harm the ozone layer. Following international agreements that promised to limit the release of these gases into the atmosphere, such as the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendments, Nigeria has enacted regulations governing the use of these gases. But enforcement has been problematic, threatening Nigeria’s commitments to reduce emissions.

“These laws, these rules, no one is implementing them,” said Abiodun Ajeigbe, head of Samsung’s air conditioning division in West Africa. “I have not seen any enforcement of these laws.”

“I wasn’t taught”

According to Ajeigbe, the weakness of the regulatory system for the refrigeration industry in Nigeria is reflected in the glaring lack of adequate training and sensitization of technicians on the environmental damage caused by refrigerants. And this is a common observation.

After uninstalling an air conditioner for a client who was moving to another area, Cyprian Braimoh, a technician in Karu district of Abuja, carelessly wasted the gas from the unit into the air, preparing it to be refilled with fresh gas at the client’s new location.

If he complied with the country’s regulations, he would collect the gas in a cylinder, which would avoid or minimize the environmental damage caused by the gas. Technicians like Braimoh and those who repaired Bukar’s device without checking for leaks are independent and unsupervised workers. But they often attract customers because they offer cheaper services.

“I wasn’t taught that, I just release it into the air,” says Braimoh, who first specialized in electrical wiring for buildings before repairing air conditioners to supplement his income. He received patchy training that did not include the safety standards required for handling refrigerants. And he still hasn’t conducted a leak test after installing the air conditioning unit in his client’s new premises, which is required by the country’s cooling industry regulations.

Installations carried out by well-trained technicians who comply with environmental regulations can be more expensive for customers. This is often the case in Nigeria, where using the services of companies like Daibau, which helped Bukar fix its leaks, can result in higher costs.

Manufacturers that offer direct refrigeration and air conditioning installation services to large commercial customers have tried to self-regulate with safety training and certifications for their technicians, Ajeigbe said.

Powerful greenhouse gases

According to industry insiders and public records, the most common air conditioners in Africa still use what is known as R-22 gas. This refrigerant is less harmful to the ozone layer than older, more harmful refrigerants called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs were largely phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which was created to protect the ozone layer, the atmosphere’s vital shield against cancer-causing ultraviolet rays.

But R-22 is 1,810 times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A single pound of the coolant is nearly as potent as a ton of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, but while CO2 can stay in the atmosphere for more than 200 years, R-22 stays there for about 12 years. R-22 air conditioners are also inefficient, and most of the electricity that powers them in Africa comes from fossil fuels.

Nigeria plans to phase out R-22 refrigerant by January 1, 2030. But with lax enforcement, achieving the phase-out target is uncertain, Ajeigbe said.

Newer air conditioners that use a family of gases called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) don’t harm the ozone and use less electricity. But HFCs remain powerful greenhouse gases and are responsible for about 2 percent of human-caused global warming of the atmosphere.

R-410A, an HFC still commonly used in Europe and the United States, has a global warming potential 2,088 times greater than carbon dioxide and remains in the atmosphere for about 30 years. Air conditioners that run on this gas are most common in Africa.

Another HFC, R-32, is 675 times more potent than CO2, lasts about five years in the atmosphere and is more energy efficient. But it is only “marginally” present in the African market, Ajeigbe said.

HFC-powered air conditioners are more expensive, meaning they are less popular than more polluting ones, according to salespeople and technicians in Abuja and Lagos.

A larger problem

It is not just Nigeria. In Ghana, the cooling sector is also struggling to convince its technicians to comply with environmental standards.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “widespread poor maintenance practices” in the country are largely due to consumers choosing poorly qualified technicians for cost reasons and neglecting recommended standards.

In Kenya, demand for cooling systems is growing as temperatures rise, the population grows and access to electricity expands. Air conditioners that run on R-22 are still very common in Kenya, but the National Environmental Management Authority told The Associated Press that there have been no new imports since 2021, in line with 2020 regulations.

Regulations require technicians who work with refrigerants and cooling equipment to be licensed, but that rule is not enforced, technicians told AP, allowing environmentally hazardous practices to continue.

“You just need to be well trained and start installing. It is a very simple industry for us who make a living from it,” says Nairobi-based technician Jeremiah Musyoka.

R-290, an energy-efficient and less harmful refrigerant gas, is gradually gaining ground as an alternative for refrigeration and air conditioning in developed markets such as the European Union. The demand for efficient heat pumps is growing rapidly in the EU, but their adoption in Africa remains insignificant due to financial barriers and limited awareness.

Countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya have also identified R-290 as the product that will eventually replace HFCs, but models that use it are not commercially available. And they still have to worry about specialized training of technicians because of R-290’s high flammability.

“I am concerned about the lack of training and the lack of enforcement of existing regulations,” said Mr Ajeigbe, a Samsung executive. But he added that enforcing the ban on the importation of banned gases and devices that use them would make a difference.

Anastasia Akhigbe, a senior regulatory officer at Nigeria’s National Environmental Standards and Regulations Agency, added that increased awareness among appliance importers, technicians and consumers about the environmental impacts of some refrigerants would also help.

“Law enforcement is a known challenge, but we are making progress,” Akhigbe said.