Asia is home to five of the top nine countries with the biggest populations facing significant cooling-related risks: India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia. This year’s Innovate4climate (I4C) will have a priority focus on how to deliver sustainable cooling to keep people, food, and medicines safe.
Here are four elements of sustainable cooling worth knowing:
First, cooling is vital for both health and prosperity
1.1 billion people face risks from lack of access to cooling, the vast majority of them in Asia and Africa. Higher temperatures and lack of access to cooling will impact labor productivity and the wellbeing of populations: by 2050, work hours lost due to heat may be as high as 12% in the worst affected regions of South Asia and West Africa, or 6% of annual GDP. The lack of adequate cold storage and refrigerated transport contributes to over 1.5 million vaccine-preventable deaths each year. And up to 50% of food can be lost post-harvest in developing countries that lack access to refrigeration or food cold chains.
Second, business-as-usual cooling will be a disaster for the planet
Cooling contributes to climate change by increasing demand for electricity, much of which is still generated from fossil fuels, and through leakage of refrigerants, which have a much higher global warming potential than CO2 emission. Conventional cooling devices – such as refrigerators, room air conditioners, industrial scale chillers, and other devices – account for as much as 10% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than twice the emissions generated from aviation and maritime combined.
Third, getting cooling right is a major opportunity
Done right, efficient, affordable and sustainable cooling in developing countries can help alleviate poverty, reduce food loss, improve health, manage energy demand, and combat climate change. It has the potential to advance the internationally agreed goals of the Paris Climate Agreement; the Sustainable Development Goals; and the Montreal Protocol’s Kigali Amendment. For instance, just halving food loss with refrigeration and food cold chains could feed 1 billion undernourished people.
Fourth, Asia will be key for the development of sustainable cooling technologies
Asian megacities, particularly in India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia, are particularly at risk from the effects of the urban heat island phenomenon. Many are therefore focusing on ways to reduce excess urban heat and support sustainable urban development. India, for instance, is one of the first countries to deploy highly efficient air conditioners.
Singapore, host of I4C, is home to the largest underground district cooling network in the world, located in the Marina Bay. The network produces and distributes chilled water from a central plant to buildings in the surrounding area, replacing individual water towers and other cooling systems. The system has reduced energy costs by a staggering forty percent while also reducing emissions, the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off the road each year.
This year’s I4C conference is designed to link innovation with finance. Participants will explore the latest trends in sustainable cooling innovation and will identify opportunities to bring these innovations to life.
Original source: World Bank
Published on 23 May 2019
