Keeping it Cool: International Efforts to Reduce Emissions from Refrigerants

Seventy-one countries, including the United States, are part of the Global Cooling Pledge, a commitment initiated at the 2023 U.N. climate summit (COP28) to address the greenhouse gas emissions associated with refrigerators and air conditioning. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a briefing that explored the imperative of reducing these emissions, especially the superpollutant hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), while also ensuring that people are kept safe from the impacts of extreme heat. The Global Cooling Pledge calls for a 68% reduction in emissions by 2050, increased availability of and access to sustainable cooling solutions by 2030, and increased energy efficiency of air conditioners. 

This briefing explored progress made towards these goals—from nature-based and passive cooling to low global warming potential refrigerant technologies. Panelists also discussed the Senate-ratified Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which is phasing down HFCs. The briefing left policymakers with takeaways on what to expect at COP30 related to sustainable cooling and extreme heat as well as the economic and public health benefits of addressing refrigerant emissions domestically.

View the full briefing series at eesi.org/cop30-briefings.

 

Highlights

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Cooling is essential for food security, protection from extreme heat, health, and prosperity and opportunity. Cooling currently requires 20% of all electricity used globally. Sixty percent of projected 2050 emissions from cooling can be reduced through joint action on three measures: passive cooling, energy efficiency, and the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). These three areas are key parts of COP28’s Global Cooling Pledge, which calls for a 68% reduction in cooling-related greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.  Solutions to transition to sustainable refrigerants include: improving life-cycle refrigerant management, supporting service sector readiness, and marrying energy efficiency and refrigerant transition financing.

 

Lily Riahi, Head, Cool Coalition Secretariat, UN Environment Programme

• Cooling is essential for food security, protection from extreme heat, health, and prosperity and opportunity. Cooling currently requires 20% of all electricity used globally.
• The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) Cool Coalition’s Global Cooling Watch 2023 report indicates that without further action, demand for cooling equipment will triple and electricity consumption will double by 2050. 
• Sixty percent of projected 2050 emissions from cooling can be reduced through joint action on three measures: passive cooling, energy efficiency, and the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). These three areas are key parts of COP28’s Global Cooling Pledge, which calls for a 68% reduction in cooling-related greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 
• Investing in sustainable cooling has multiple economic and social benefits, including electricity savings of $1 trillion per year, electricity load reduction of 1.5 to 2 terawatts (TW), $4-5 trillion saved on avoided investment costs, and improved cooling access for 3 billion people. 
• As of October 2025, 72 countries have signed the Global Cooling Pledge. These countries have committed to policy actions to reduce cooling emissions, including adopting building energy codes that incorporate passive cooling, supporting the Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund that helps developing nations phase out harmful refrigerants, promoting improved energy efficiency for the hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) phaseout and HFC phasedown, and investing in higher equipment efficiency. 
• To track progress on the Global Cooling Pledge, UNEP hosts an annual Cooling Ministerial at COP, where participating countries come together to report on progress and learn how they can support each other. 
• While countries are making significant progress, passive cooling is one area that is not being integrated enough into building codes and urban planning. 
• Sustainable cooling offers strong opportunities for economic growth and development. Air conditioning is expected to grow in the Global South from a $300 billion market to at least a $600 billion market per year by 2050.

 

Shikha Bhasin, Advisor, Council on Energy, Environment, and Water

• Sustainable cooling was first discussed 40 years ago at the Vienna Convention, which established the framework for protecting the ozone layer and led 197 countries to switch away from ozone-depleting refrigerants towards hydrofluorocarbons. 
• Before the Montreal Protocol, ozone-depleting chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons were commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning and contributed to a dangerous hole in the ozone layer. They are also potent greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. The Montreal Protocol prohibited the use of these chemicals. Now, climate-friendly alternatives exist, which dissolve faster and have less environmental impact.
• The 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol phases down the consumption and production of HFCs over the next 30 years. HFCs initially replaced CFCs and HCFCs as refrigerants but were found to be highly potent greenhouse gases.
• India launched the first Cooling Action Plan in 2019, including assessments on energy efficiency, cooling demand, and refrigerant usage in end-use sectors. It became the blueprint for other countries to develop their own national cooling action plans. 
• Life-cycle refrigerant management is a key area to address as it helps prevent leakages and can lead to recovery at end of life. It has the potential to mitigate 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 in India. Solutions to support this management include carbon credits and carbon markets, extended producer responsibility, and carbon taxes.
• Governments must also support service sector readiness, which could lead to a twenty-fold increase in jobs and livelihoods. To do so, governments should support regulating training, certification, and licensing. 
• ‘Cooling’ cuts across different pools of funding and responsible agencies, leading to a need for better institutional setups, programmatic design, and financing frameworks to track progress on energy efficiency implementation and refrigerant transitions. 

 

Helen Walter-Terrinoni, Director of Global Climate Policy, Trane Technologies

• The Montreal Protocol reduced substances that deplete the ozone layer, including CFCs, HCFCs, and HFCs. As a result of the Kigali Amendment, HFCs are in the process of being phased out, with the hope of completing the process by 2045. 
• The refrigerant industry was supportive of the 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol because of the developing patchwork of policies around the world that were already phasing down HFCs prior to the amendment. 
• The American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act (included in P.L.116-260) enabled the implementation of the Kigali Amendment by requiring the phasedown of HFCs. American industries worked with others to enact this phasedown, and now 12 states have adopted HFC policies. 

• The AIM Act authorized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set technology transition dates and global warming potential limits for gases used in refrigeration, air conditioning, aerosols, and foam products. The EPA is also authorized to create a refrigerant management policy and has proposed three HFC-related rules under AIM, including the Allocation Framework Rule (2021), the Technology Transitions Rule (2023), and the Emissions Reduction and Reclamation Rule (2023). 
• Training technicians, including developing training guidelines and requirements, can help enable the transition to new refrigerants. 
• It is also beneficial for countries to share their experience, research, and policies with other countries in the Cooling Pledge network so they may learn from each other. 

 

Q&A

 

Where do you expect to see sustainable cooling surface at COP30? What outcomes are most relevant for U.S. decision-makers to look for? 

Riahi 

• Brazil, the COP30 Presidency, is focused on implementing extreme heat adaptation policies. As the chair of the Global Cooling Pledge this year, Brazil is spearheading initiatives to localize the pledge to deliver cooling and nature-based solutions in homes and communities where it matters most. 
• The framework addressing extreme heat, the Beat the Heat Implementation Drive, will be presented on November 11 and 18 at COP30.
• It is important for policymakers to track the negotiations and discussions on cooling in the context of adaptation and resilience. 

Bhasin

• Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which looks at carbon markets, is an important part of COP30 for policymakers to track as cooling is an emerging sector with lots of expected investment growth.
• Policymakers can also follow discussions over just transitions, which focus on adaptation and resilience and cover sustainable cooling.
• As countries think more about energy security, cooling should be part of this conversation since it is the second-largest sector—after industry—contributing to rising electricity consumption, which is expected to increase by almost 40% globally by 2040.

Walter-Terrinoni

• Policymakers should track the updates to the nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which are national climate action plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement. These plans may include new emphasis on cooling.
• Local policies on addressing extreme heat are emerging, including solutions like limiting temperatures in apartment buildings and schools, and holding health classes about the dangers of higher temperatures and exposure to heat. 
• More broadly, the intertwining of energy efficiency with cooling is critical as energy demand grows. 

 

Do you expect COP to address data center proliferation, including the increases in energy demand specifically for cooling data centers?

Walter-Terrinoni

• Cooling is needed for data center equipment, including liquid cooling for microchips. Changing technologies to reduce energy use will be beneficial.

Riahi

• UNEP will release a new Global Cooling Watch report at COP30, which will break down trends in cooling data centers. UNEP will also host a cooling and building pavilion throughout COP30, creating space for more technical discussions, including around data centers. 
• Cooling is a critical infrastructure for data centers, alongside energy, as it is essential to keep data centers and the digital economy running smoothly. 

Bhasin

• Depending on the efficiency of the cooling system and the data center, up to 30% of the electricity consumption within a data center is for cooling.
• For systems that cannot be switched off, developing countries’ biggest challenge to reduce cooling-related emissions is the cold chain, while developed countries’ biggest challenge surrounds data centers. 

 

Compiled by Olivia Benedict and Hailey Morris and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.