As the world warms, and as incomes and populations grow, demand for cooling is rapidly increasing. People need cooling to protect themselves from rising temperatures and to keep food fresh, vaccines viable and economies productive. But conventional cooling appliances are often energy-intensive and highly polluting, primarily due to emissions from electricity usage and the release of refrigerant gases – the majority of which have a much higher global warming potential than CO2.
Based on current policies – according to UNEP’s latest report Global Cooling Watch 2023 – the installed capacity of cooling equipment globally will triple by 2050, more than doubling electricity consumption. This will lead emissions from cooling to surge to 6.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2050, equivalent to more than 10 per cent of global emissions.
However, the global community has already started to take coordinated action, which can help the world avoid the equivalent of 4-8 years of total annual GHG emissions by 2050. UNEP’s Global Cooling Watch 2023 outlines how emissions from cooling can be cut by more than 60 per cent – around 3.8 billion tons of CO2e emissions – compared to business-as-usual by 2050.
In 2019, 65 countries ratified the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Signatories agreed to reduce the production and use of climate-warming refrigerant gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), by more than 80 per cent over the next 30 years. This has the potential to avoid as much as 0.4°C of global warming by 2100.
To bring sustainable cooling efforts to the next level, the UNEP-led Cool Coalition, and the United Arab Emirates’ COP28 Presidency, launched the Global Cooling Pledge at COP28.
UNEP also contributes to finding solutions to sustainable cooling through its United for Efficiency (U4E) initiative which works with countries to implement an integrated policy approach to enable a sustainable and cost-effective transformation to energy-efficient equipment and appliances. Along with partners in the UK and Rwanda, U4E has established the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain (ACES) to develop and accelerate uptake of sustainable cold-chain solutions in the agriculture and health sectors throughout Africa and India.
The Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency supports countries and cities developing urban cooling action plans helping cities design policies and actions facing extreme heat conditions in the urban environment.
