The Earth’s temperature is on a rising trend since the 19th Century with no indications of it going downhill. The reason for this heated climate has been mostly attributed to the anthropogenic activities– fossil fuel burning, the choice of technologies and so on. This heated climate raises demand for cooling technologies with refrigerants like hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are harmful for the environment and in turn completes the vicious cycle of heated climate. This heated climate and the demand for cooling does not discriminate between the rich and the poor, but the supply of cooling does. This is as true for refrigerators as for air-conditioners (ACs). The Chilling Prospects 2021: Tracking Sustainable Energy for All vividly presents the enormous gaps in access to cooling. It studies each cohort of income-levels within countries and identifies not just the cooling access (demand-supply) gaps but also its repercussions. It identifies three risk spectrums as: High Risk, Medium Risk and Low Risk and determines that 1.09 billion of the rural and urban poor are at high risk in terms of access to cooling and a further 2.34 billion of the lower-middle income group is at medium risk in terms of lack of access to sustainable cooling.
IEA 2018 reports that access to cooling demands access to electricity which increases demand for power. This raises concern for an access to clean and efficient technologies for sustainable development, also known as, sustainable cooling. The rural and urban poor have higher risks due to lack of access to electricity. The perishable goods that the farmers produce spoils by the time they reach the market because of the inadequate cooling facilities– both for storage and mobile cooling services during transportation of the perishable items. Reports show that 63% of the food losses in developing economies are due to the lack of cold chains for refrigeration and mobile cooling intended for transportation. The lower middle-income groups because of a dearth of purchasing options end up purchasing cooling devices that are inefficient: high energy consumption devices and high GHG emissions. This lack of access to cold chains for food and medicine storages further damages the lives of the vulnerable sections of the population leading to a vicious cycle of poverty. It is imperative to understand that it is not access to cooling that matters the most, but the access to efficient cooling.
G20’s role in accelerating the National Cooling Action Plan is crucial given that most of them are in tropical regions and its contribution to the energy demand for cooling is 80% of the global demand. India is the first country in the World to undertake a National-level Cooling Action Plan in a broader scale as this. It aims to reduce refrigerant demand and cooling energy requirements by 2037-38. The India National Cooling Action Plan has over-achieved (44%) the target of 35% reduction in the use of HCFC, set by the Montreal Protocol. India also aims at capacity building by upskilling the stakeholders. However, as identified by the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), India lacks a macroeconomic model studying the impact of cooling on emissions. An input-output analysis or a Computable General Equilibrium Model (CGE) could help understand the impact across sectors and across states. Across sectors and across States studies provide a robust understanding of the spillover effects of the impact of one action like the reduction in energy reliance or the use of energy-efficient cooling technologies on other sectors and states. This is important as a recent report by AEEE has pointed out the lack of access to cooling in India even when such a broad scale initiative has been undertaken. For this, it is imperative to understand that phasing out energy-inefficient technologies requires time and resources. AEEE is assisting India in its transition towards sustainable and accessible cold-chain infrastructure in rural India working at the grassroots level to understand the challenges involved in the implementation of the efficient cold-chain infrastructure projects.
The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) strives to address the key challenges in implementation of agricultural cold-chain infrastructure like the capacity building, training and data availability. It tests business models in this line. It shows, because the access to electricity in Rwanda is low it has deployed non-traditional technologies, the off-grid ones like the solar cold storage units. This methodology aims to increase the exports of horticulture products. Through this methodology, it first charts the food value chains to identify the energy loopholes and then adopt suitable energy technologies that can increase market efficiency and output by putting a check on the loss of food due to spoilage. A strategy adopted by the Bisolar Tech Fridge team in Sub-Saharan Africa to use one compressor for multiple applications in off-grid technologies like solar cold storages units can reduce the burden of excess demand for energy and help supply the excess amount for other power usages. These storage units are produced through recycling old cooling appliances and innovating from them which not just caters the efficiency aspect of cooling but also provides employment to the vulnerable sections of the population.
G20 member countries should encourage firms and developmental institutions to learn from such innovative models because without active firm level participation and a sophisticated business model the burden of excess demand for energy will not subside.
The first thing required is ratification of the fast implementation of the 2016 Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by all G20 members. It should be kept in mind phasing out requires time and additional resources to support those who will be losing jobs because of this transition. Also, resources will be required to train people to work in new environment.
As mentioned in the priority areas for cool collaboration for the G20 countries, the financial and regulatory institutions should link innovative finances to cooling. A previous blog discusses on the crucial role that the financial institutions play in disbursing funds to the infrastructure firms. It also discusses the related problem of Green Washing, that is, how these firms could pretend to be environment friendly where, in reality, they hardly abide by the sustainability rules. It puts forward different institutional strategies that the G20 countries should take up to avert green washing.
Additionally, the priority areas discuss the role of private agencies in procurement of products. India has successfully deployed public procurement strategies in case of LED bulbs and ACs. The deployment of private agencies for such purposes could call for discrimination strategies where only the large firms would get the contract over the small firms. Moreover, in presence of such procurement cases and certification agencies, competition is important otherwise there will be a problem of inefficiency and corruption creeping in. Thus, the G20 member countries should collaborate on strategies to resolve the challenges towards easy access to sustainable cooling.
(Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of ICRIER)
