Background
Cooling already represents around 10% of global electricity demand (IEA, 2023). With a growing population, increasing wealth, urbanisation and higher temperatures, the demand for space cooling is rapidly rising.
The growing use of refrigeration and air conditioning appliances leads to increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for two reasons: first, the electricity used is mainly generated through fossil fuel combustion (indirect emissions). Second, most of the applications use fluorinated gases (F-gases) – HCFCs or HFCs – as refrigerants. As these gases leak, they cause substantial emissions as well (direct emissions): most are several hundred or even several thousand times more climate-damaging than CO2.
Within the cooling sector, air conditioning represents the single most significant sub-sector, contributing over two-thirds of the emissions. “Roughly 2 billion AC units are now in operation around the world, making space cooling one of the leading drivers of rising electricity demand” (UNDP, 2023).
A sustainable sector transformation and the promotion of climate-friendly and energy-efficient alternatives is therefore necessary. Environmentally friendly ACs (“Green ACs") with propane as refrigerant (R290) and high energy efficiency levels are available at international level, but their market share is still very small.
Objective
CooPSA’s aim is to prepare and implement a climate change mitigation programme to introduce energy-efficient and F-gas free ACs in the region of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Challenges
The number of ACs in the SADC region will increase from 5.4 million to around 17.7 million by 2030 (GFA, 2018). Climate and energy plans of the SADC members call for GHG emission reductions and energy efficiency improvements in the cooling sector. Costs aspects and the inaccessibility of ACs using natural refrigerants are currently major obstacles to a sustainable transformation of the sector.
Activities
The Cooling Program promotes the achievement of the targets of the Paris Agreement (PA) and the Montreal Protocol including its Kigali Amendment.
At its core is the market introduction of more than 10.000 ‘Green AC’s that are energy-efficient and run with the natural refrigerant R290 (propane). The first few dozen has arrived in 2025, for training and demonstration purposes. As these future-friendly appliances are more expensive than climate-damaging ones, CooPSA will pay importers or resellers a top-up so that they can sell them at a competitive price. Users can additionally save several thousands of euros in energy costs during their ten years of operating life.
Each Green AC can avoid up to 24,1t CO2eq in direct and indirect emissions. That corresponds to 7 return flights from South Africa to Germany! These emission savings will be calculated and shall be turned into carbon credits and sold under Article 6 of the PA. Countries can use the proceeds for continuing the financing of top-ups. This ensures the programme’s sustainability after the project’s end.
However, several steps are necessary for setting up such a carbon financing mechanism. CooPSA therefore has been advising the partner countries in setting up national Carbon Market Frameworks. Simultaneously, it has elaborated a detailed Mitigation Action Design Document (MADD) that is currently being validated by TÜV. The result is expected for mid-2026.
Furthermore, CooPSA is supporting the introduction of Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) as well as energy labels for ACs. Another important aspect is the training of up to a hundred technicians per partner country to ensure the correct installation and maintenance of the ‘Green ACs’. There is a particular focus on the empowerment of female technicians who are highly underrepresented in the cooling sector.
Expected Results and Upscaling
The successful implementation of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) funded programme in four partner countries (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Eswatini) would provide significant co-benefits such as the creation of new skilled jobs. The market penetration of natural refrigerants in developing and emerging countries would be facilitated. The successful, practical application of the Art. 6.2 Cooperative Approaches mechanism would demonstrate the use of market-based carbon finance as an effective tool to increase the ambition of NDC targets of developing countries and countries in transition.
There is a very high replication potential of the Cooling Program in almost all tropical countries. In case of additional funding being made available, it would be possible to expand the Cooling Program to other regions, such as selected countries in Southeast Asia or South and Central America and the Caribbean.
In addition, other RAC sub-sectors such as commercial/industrial refrigeration or transport refrigeration could be addressed, which finally could lead to a global carbon pricing scheme similar to that of the programme Nitric Acid Climate Action Group (NACAG).