It’s time to get serious about sustainable cooling

Most Indians have endured hot summers all their lives. But what we are experiencing now is an annual living nightmare of unbearable and deadly heat that barely abates when the sun sets.

These record-breaking heatwaves are only going to get worse as the climate crisis intensifies. Some 360 million Indians are expected to face extreme heat-related stress by 2050. If we want to save lives, keep the economy running and ensure our kids can go to school, we need to get serious about smart and sustainable cooling. In his timely Call to Action on Extreme Heat, United Nations (UN) Secretary General, António Guterres states, “extreme temperatures are no longer a one day, one week or one-month phenomenon… Extreme heat is the new abnormal. The world must rise to the challenge of rising temperatures.”

The UN Environment Programme estimates that, sustainable cooling measures could protect 3.5 billion people by 2050, while slashing emissions and saving consumers $1 trillion a year.

Let’s start with what sustainable cooling must do before we talk about what it is.

First, sustainable cooling must protect the most vulnerable. The street vendor, living hand to mouth, who needs to brave the sun’s furnace to sell fruit and vegetables. The farm and construction workers who only get paid if they show up. The poor, children, the sick and the elderly. The people that we, the wealthy elites, too often forget as we glide through our world of air-conditioned comfort.

Second, sustainable cooling must extend to the cold chain that keeps food fresh and vaccines stable. This is a major gap in India. Despite having an extensive immunisation programme, a quarter of vaccines in our nation arrive damaged because of broken or insufficient cold chains. Only 4% of fresh produce is transported in refrigerated vehicles, leading to significant food losses which reach up to $ 4.5 billion annually. Such losses dramatically cut the income of our farmers.

Third, sustainable cooling must bring these benefits to all without jeopardising our climate targets and the need to decarbonise our economy. Cooling is also already a major strain on stuttering power grids. India can expect to see an 11-fold increase in demand for space cooling by 2037. If we stick to current power-hungry modes of cooling, we will produce a vicious cycle of more energy demand, more planet-warming emissions and a need for more cooling.

We can deliver all these benefits if we act in three areas outlined in the Global Cooling Watch report, produced by the UN Environment Programme-led Cool Coalition.

First, we need to adopt passive cooling strategies, which are ways to address extreme heat and reduce cooling demand in buildings without consuming power. We can lean on nature in cities – concrete soaks up heat, creating urban heat islands while trees lower temperatures day and night and provide crucial shade. Nature has the power to cool cities. Municipalities should implement policies to bring nature back to cities through urban forests, shaded road networks, green pavers, green roofs, urban gardens, as these have huge potential to mitigate urban heat We need to relearn our heritage techniques of heat resilient architecture and bring them to the modern age, including natural ventilation and shading. We can use reflective surfaces to bounce the heat back, which can be as simple as painting roofs white.

Second, as we travel the long road to an economy fully powered by renewable energy, we need to adopt higher energy efficiency standards for cooling equipment. Higher efficiency standards and better labelling of cooling equipment would triple the global average efficiency of cooling equipment in 2050, lower energy bills and improve the resilience and financial viability of cold chain. And, by the way, even if we get to full renewable energy, we will still need to be more efficient, because our power grids can’t cope with peak demand.

Third, and this is where it gets more technical, we need to reduce climate-warming gases used in the cooling industry. A lot of cooling equipment uses hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more potent than CO2. When they leak, and they do leak, they warm the planet. There is an amendment to the Montreal Protocol – the global deal that protected the ozone layer – targeting a reduction in these gases, which India has ratified. But all nations including India can do more to prevent these gases leaking and move faster to sustainable alternatives.

Added to all of this, we need to get early-warning systems in place that detect impending heatwaves in advance and allow cities and communities to take appropriate measures to save lives.

India does have a national Cooling Action Plan. Under this plan, India aims to reduce cooling demand by up to 25%, refrigerant demand by 25-30% and cooling energy requirements by up to 40% by 2037-38 against business as usual. The plan also prioritises other solutions, such as passive cooling, building design, fans and coolers, new technologies, behavioural change and a fast expansion of cold chain to help our farmers. Taken all together the money saved in grid expansion and cooling costs can be redirected to affordable cooling for all.

This plan is well-intentioned. It shows commitment. But I ask the Indian government, Indian business and Indian financiers to get behind the plan with money and resources, and then aim higher. We need firm and urgent collaborative action at the national, state and city level to drive deliver, especially for the most vulnerable. Such efforts will pave the way for India as a global champion on sustainable cooling that is accessible to all.

India has shown, time and again, that it can innovate, lead and hustle. We have shown this in producing low-cost vaccines for the world. In astonishing digital public infrastructure. In industry, mathematics and physics. Indians are nothing if not resourceful. If we apply this mentality to sustainable cooling, we can ensure that our nation’s future does not wither beneath the sun.

This article is authored by Dia Mirza, UNEP Goodwill Ambassador.