23 September 2019: A global network of partners from government, the private sector, cities, international organizations, finance, academia and civil society has announced new commitments on efficient, climate-friendly cooling. Made under the Energy Transition Track of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, these pledges will contribute to tackling climate change, help achieve sustainable development and save trillions of dollars.

According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the challenge of sustainable cooling has been described as the “blind spot” in climate action. Yet the latest research suggests that moving to best available technologies (BAT) would reduce cumulative emissions from the sector by 38-60 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO₂e) by 2030 and up to 130-260 GtCO₂e by 2050.

Catalyzed by the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Programme, the ‘Cool Coalition,’ which works to expand access to cooling while reducing the climate impact of the cooling industry, received the following pledges:

• 26 countries, including Bangladesh and the Philippines, undertake to adopt comprehensive national cooling plans;
• Led by France, several countries commit to the ‘Biarritz Pledge for Fast Action on Efficient Cooling’;
• Five countries (the Dominican Republic, North Macedonia, Rwanda, Senegal and Spain) commit to integrate cooling in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs);
• Andorra, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, Djibouti, Hungary, Japan, Lebanon, Norway and the UK are among the countries making additional cooling-related pledges;
• The World Bank Group and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are integrating clean and efficient cooling across their lending and investment portfolios;
• The Children’s Investment Future Fund (CIFF) pledges an additional USD 20 million in funding for cooling, bringing Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP) funding to over USD 60 million;
• C40 cities, including Copenhagen, Medellin and Barcelona, undertake to work with their network of more than 90 member cities to share expertise and integrate urban cooling into their climate action plans to reduce energy consumption while improving air quality;
• Pledges from the private sector include Electrolux and Mabe releasing plans by the end of 2019 to switch to lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants in all of their cooling product lines and Engie’s planned investment of between EUR 1.8 billion and 2 billion in highly efficient District Cooling systems by 2024.

[UNEP Press Release] [Climate Action Summit Press Release] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Climate Action Summit] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Energy Efficiency Commitment by ‘Three Percent Club’]