Maximizing the Benefits for Climate Friendly Cooling through Successful Implementation of the Kigali Amendment
TERI is organising a high-level brainstorming event with a cross-section of stakeholders on the themes of future strategy for India to phase down HFCs, sustainable adoption of low GWP refrigerants in India’s cooling sector and the role of energy-efficient equipment and buildings in India’s efforts to meet the Kigali Amendment and ICAP targets.
The Energy and Resources Insititute (TERI), in association with Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), is organising a high-level brainstorming event with a cross-section of stakeholders including the government, industry, academia and financial institutions on August 4 2022, from 12 PM- 4 PM at The Claridges, New Delhi, India.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) recent report on Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability makes it clear that intensifying heat and humidity in India could be increasingly challenging for people to survive. Moreover, with rising temperature, climate change, and growing income aspirations, demand for cooling will see a marked increase —leading to greater greenhouse gas emissions. As per World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the year 2021 was one of the planet's seven hottest years witnessing the rise of more than 1 degree Celsius average global temperature.
The recent trends of heat waves in the parts of south Asian countries have exposed the risks to the global communities. In India alone, March 2022 was the hottest month in the previous 122 years of historical data (since 1901) recorded by the Indian Metrological Department. IPCC's sixth assessment report speculates that India is likely to face more frequent and severe heat waves as a result of climate change in the coming decades. Experiencing the negative effects of abnormally hot summers, drier conditions and more frequent heat waves, cooling is becoming more of a necessity. However, it is equally required to handle this need for cooling in a climate-friendly manner to avoid any further contribution to global warming.
India has for decades played a key role in bringing about the success of the Montreal Protocol, arguably the most successful international environmental treaty to date. The country was central to the formation of the Kigali Amendment and has paved the way for other nations by showcasing the successful implementation of the Protocol and its amendments through well-designed and implemented national policies. It is also one of the first countries to launch its comprehensive India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) in 2019 with an overarching goal of providing “sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all while securing environmental and socio-economic benefits for the society”. In addition, the country’s ratification of the Montreal Protocol's Kigali Amendment to phase-down hydrofluorocarbons(HFCs) in September 2021 is a huge step towards the Kigali Amendment’s success.
To maximize the socio-economic benefits, besides environmental gains, it is important for India’s refrigeration and air conditioning sector to consider the aspects of energy-efficient cooling and sustainable adoption of low-global warming potential refrigerants simultaneously in a way to maximize its gains through the implementation of the Kigali Amendment. As India charts its way forward for Kigali Amendment implementation and ICAP implementation, domestically, it is important to think through some of the challenges that will emerge for the industry to mainstream low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants and build solutions ahead of time. It is high time we have discussions to analyse opportunities to maximize the HFC phase-down gains both in terms of emissions and time.
Similarly, the role of best-in-class appliance energy efficiency standards and effective implementation of building energy codes provide an important opportunity to reduce the cooling demand (therefore refrigerant demand) and meet the demand with the most energy-efficient equipment in the market. It’s now time to think through mechanisms to scale up the efforts ongoing in the country and design new techniques to maximize gains for climate-friendly cooling.
For more information, please contact Mr Ashish Saraswat, Associate Fellow, TERI at
ashish.saraswat@teri.res.in