Asian Development Bank (ADB) recently awarded iCET a technical assistance (TA) project on “Developing a Climate-Friendly Cooling Sector Through Market and Financing Innovation”. As a lead organization, iCET will coordinate with domestic and international experts in the cooling technology, building system, and green finance fields to implement the TAfor potential piloting in Asian cities. The overall objective of this project is to assist cities in developing a climate-friendly, energy-efficient cooling sector to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve energy efficiency related to refrigeration and cooling. The assignment will also aim at designing viable business models and innovative financing mechanisms to enable cities to deploy a large-scale implementation. In addition, the assignment will go one step further – not only focus on the efficiency improvement of cooling equipment but also optimize cooling resources efficiency through the help of the internet-enabled solutions. The 24-month project was officially kicked off in September 2019.
There are large users in Asia (e.g., China) of hazard refrigerants such as HFCs. The urgency of taking actions in addressing HFCs-induced climate change in these countries is prominent. As many as 197 nations globally reached a legally binding accord to phase out HFCs in the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol in October 2016. UNEP estimates that reducing HFCs emissions under the Kigali Amendment is expected to avoid a global temperature increase of 0.5°C at the end of this century. These countries are also big producers and consumers of cooling products. Most of the energy consumed by their cooling sector is powered by fossil fuels. It is essential for these countries to produce and sell more energy efficient and climate-friendly refrigeration equipment. This will reduce electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, ultimately contributing to the Paris Agreement’s overarching objective of keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2° C.
