ShareEmerging countries: Discover the key figures in their national cooling plans
Several countries have recently published National Cooling Plans, which present an overview of their countries cooling demand and help support the implementation of sustainable, energy-efficient cooling.
Cooling is increasingly being recognised as a developmental issue that is linked to the achievement of many of the Sustainable Development Goals. For instance, sustainable cold chains are critical to ending hunger and malnutrition (SDG2), through increasing the volume of affordable, nutritious produce that can reach populations. An un-broken cold chain that providing universal access to vaccines and medicines would promote well-being (SDG3). [1]
To promote sustainable cooling, the UN calls on countries to develop National Cooling Action Plans (NCAPs). These documents provide a framework to coordinate actions to address the cooling demand across all sectors in the country and ways and means to provide access to sustainable cooling.[3] National Cooling Plans help support market transformation programs such as Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS), labelling and rebate schemes for energy-efficient cooling appliances using low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants.[4] These important documents also often include national market assessments of the stock of refrigeration appliances, an overview of the country’s cooling requirements, refrigerant demand, energy use, etc.
Among low- to middle-income economies (or emerging economies), the 2022 Chilling prospects report evaluated that about 1.2 billion people across 54 countries are at high risk due to a lack of access to cooling. Several of these countries have either recently published NCAPs or are making progress in developing their plans with input from key stakeholders from governmental and non-governmental organisations and with technical assistance from UNDP, UNEP, and several other organisations.[5]
Sources
[1] Cooling and the SDGs. https://coolcoalition.org/about/cooling-and-the-sdgs/
[2] National Cooling Action Plan Methodology. https://www.unescap.org/kp/2021/national-cooling-action-plan-methodology
[3] India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP). http://ozonecell.nic.in/home-page/india-cooling-action-plan/
[4] Ghana National Cooling Plan. Framework for green and efficient cooling. https://www.undp.org/ghana/publications/ghana-national-cooling-plan-report
[5] https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/sustainable-cooling-policy-progress#h4