It is important for us all to realise that the longer we delay aggressive and durable climate action, the more challenges we will face in reaching climate neutrality by mid-century. One way that we can significantly improve emissions trajectories is to expand global access to efficient, climate-friendly cooling. Arguably a cornerstone to modern life, space cooling and refrigeration provides an essential service for billions of individuals and businesses around the world by keeping vaccines stable, food nutritious, homes comfortable, students focused, and workers productive. Improved access to cooling is also critical for the achievement of a number of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely those related to health, poverty reduction, education, shelter, gender, and energy access.
A dual course of action to make cooling both more climate-friendly and more energy-efficient has the potential to reduce the projected global temperature increase by 1°C in the coming decades. Climate-friendly cooling means switching away from certain refrigerant gases with high global warming potential (GWP), namely those identified in the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. Countries around the world have already committed to phasedown the use of these gases, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), over the next few decades. Building on the momentum to swap out these harmful gases, the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP) was created in 2017 to help make cooling equipment more energy-efficient, thereby reducing the demand for energy, which most often is produced from fossil fuels.
K-CEP’s third annual report marks an important milestone, as the program nears the end of its first phase. The commitment made by 17 foundations and individual donors has been met in terms of how quickly and where the initial US$51 million was distributed. And while K-CEP and its partners assess the impact of the initial investment, additional resources have already been pledged to continue and expand the program, which will now include work in India. K-CEP will continue to provide its existing functions for the foreseeable future thanks to new and existing funders. Through its recent commitment, it is clear that philanthropy is making an enduring effort to accelerate and expand access to efficient, climate-friendly cooling the world over.
K-CEP’s successes to date have been made possible by the dedicated and talented Efficiency Cooling Office (ECO) team, and we are grateful for their perseverance in launching and managing the program. Related to the aforementioned milestone, is the leadership transition from Dan Hamza-Goodacre to Jessica Brown. We appreciate Dan’s contribution to K-CEP, as he has been instrumental in setting the program’s pace and ambition thus far. We look forward to Jessica’s guidance to maintain the momentum generated over these last few years and to lead K-CEP toward future impact.
We must guard against the temptation to adjust our ambition to address the climate crisis, especially in the face of immediate emergencies like the COVID-19 outbreak, or other calamities like the Australian bushfires. We must remain focused on reducing emissions as much as possible to thwart the impact of future climate-induced catastrophes and, most importantly, to put the world on a path toward a more stable climate by mid-century.
K-CEP is an initiative that emboldens governments, businesses, and advocates alike to align their policies, investments, and expertise to work collectively in building a better, climate-stable world. A world that is more just for those who lack access to cooling and its benefits for health, education, and productivity. A world that is just a bit cooler for us all.
Mijo Vodopic is a Senior Program Officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
It is certainly true what people say, time does fly and times do change. We can’t believe that our third annual report is here – ‘Building Momentum for Impact’ – and along with the rest of humanity, we also can’t quite believe how the world has so quickly been turned upside down by COVID-19. Despite the uncertainty that now prevails, and the ongoing (but currently less visible) climate crisis, we hope that you will find much to be hopeful for in our report. Please take some time to enjoy the success stories from our third year, in which a lot of promising progress has been made in tackling the emissions that threaten our precious, shared planet.
The last year has been a busy one for the K-CEP team, as well as for our partners. We’ve worked with governments in China , Brazil, Lebanon, the Philippines, and South Africa to improve the stringency of efficiency standards and labels. We’ve continued to provide support on National Cooling Plans (NCPs), with plans completed by China, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and Panama, while Lebanon, Jamaica and Barbados have draft plans ready and under final review by their central governments.
Businesses have also stepped up their work on climate-friendly cooling with K-CEP’s support. Mabe , the leading home appliance brand in Latin America, committed to improving the efficiency of their refrigerators by up to 25%, alongside their refrigerant transition. The EP100 Cooling Challenge launched, attracting major global companies such as Thai Union, one of the world’s largest seafood companies, and Mahindra & Mahindra, India’s largest vehicle producer.
Awareness of and collaboration for climate-friendly cooling also reached new heights as K-CEP and many others joined forces to create the Cool Coalition, profiling the need for action from governments, businesses, international organizations, and civil society at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit in New York. This event saw the largest surge in activity for efficient, climate-friendly cooling ever pledged.
Our work on finance has also continued to thrive. With K-CEP’s support, the World Bank has now institutionalized an efficient clean cooling practice within the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program’s (ESMAP) 2020-2024 business plan. Our private equity grantees have built a robust pipeline of investments in both Latin America and Asia. Cooling as a Service (CaaS) continues to thrive as a new business model.
We have also launched some exciting new initiatives this year, including the US$12 million NDC Support Facility for Efficient, Climate-Friendly Cooling (NDC Support Facility); our work with Direct Relief to deploy sustainable cooling equipment in pilot projects across a range of pre- and post-disaster situations; increased support for industrial conversion work in Colombia; accelerating CaaS across the globe; and supporting Ashden’s Cool Cities Award.
These stories and much more can be found in the report, so please read on to add a dose of positivity to your day.
As we launch our third annual report, we are giving great consideration to the COVID-19 pandemic. Heading into a year of uncertainty, it is important for us all to increase our flexibility and responsiveness in order to meet the current circumstances. We are reviewing how the pandemic is impacting our program, our grantees, and the policies, programs, and investments that they are undertaking. We are currently receiving feedback from partners around the world and two impacts are becoming clear: first, the timeline for K-CEP Phase I is likely to be extended; and second, governments will understandably be shifting their focus to protecting public health and then to economic recovery.
As we all pivot to respond to both the direct and indirect impacts of this crisis, it is important to realize that work on efficient, climate-friendly cooling is perhaps more important than ever. With surging demand for cooling in hospitals, for sufficient cold chains to be ready for rapid vaccine deployment, and for food safety as people begin to heal, the global refrigeration system is clearly a central player. Managing it efficiently and in a climate-friendly way is paramount.
While some of our program’s progress may be stalled in the short term due to the aforementioned shift in governments’ focus toward health and economic recovery, the truth is that much of K-CEP’s work is aligned with the objectives of the fiscal stimulus packages that are being put together around the world. We encourage demand-stimulating activities like incentive programs, efficiency improvements in manufacturing lines that lower costs, and Cooling-as-a-Service initiatives that remove up-front costs for recovering sectors, which in turn charters a faster return to profitability. Our program supports access to cooling for the most vulnerable, and ensures that crucial vaccines, like the one needed for COVID-19, can reach both urban populations and remote communities alike. Thus, we believe that the work we are doing will only become more resonant with the global community as time goes on.
At times like this we are reminded of how grateful we are. We are grateful for our amazing team, partners, and funders. We are grateful that we get to work on a mission that energizes us every day. And we are grateful for the beautiful world, which is sorely missed while we are in lockdown. This experience has been a lesson for us all and highlights the importance of accelerating our work to protect people, the planet, and prosperity for everyone.
K-CEP works with a coalition of high-impact organizations to implement its work. These organizations provide a range of services that contribute to the rapid adoption of efficient, clean cooling for all.
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Much of K-CEP’s work to promote efficient, climate-friendly cooling for all is made possible by our partnerships with leaders in the cooling industry. These companies are first-movers, innovators, and champions of energy efficiency and the move to efficient, climate-friendly cooling. By piloting new technologies, financing models, and manufacturing processes, they help support a market-wide shift.
K-CEP is working in alignment with the Montreal Protocol and its institutions, alongside parties and industry members, to help developing countries integrate energy efficiency into the F-gas transition, thereby cutting pollution and costs, while improving access to efficient, climate-friendly cooling.
Through this work, K-CEP has supported all developing country governments with capacity building and training, in addition to more targeted support to 27 countries’ governments and 10 businesses for the development of NCPs and industrial conversions.
Capacity building and training allows countries to enhance the expertise of their government staff, as well as those working in the maintenance and servicing sectors, which is a key part of transitioning to an efficient, climate-friendly cooling sector.
Industrial conversions often involve co-funding alongside the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol (MLF). K-CEP supports research, development, and testing to improve the efficiency of appliances manufactured, while the MLF finances the transition away from polluting F-gases, such as HFCs and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).
K-CEP’s support to countries’ NCP development efforts integrates the consideration of the HCFC phase-out and HFC phasedown with improving the energy efficiency of, and access to cooling. Developing an NCP can offer countries major benefits, including cost savings for businesses and consumers from energy efficiency gains; reduced emissions with associated climate and air quality benefits; and reduced food waste, improved health, and increased productivity through improved access to cooling.
“K-CEP is a fundamental community creator. One of the best examples of this is the creation of the Cool Coalition. K-CEP has catapulted cooling onto the international agenda.”
– Yelena Ortega, Analyst, Climate, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)
“We need to seize the three-in-one cooling opportunity. Getting cooling right offers us a chance to cut global warming, improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people, and realize huge financial savings… The Cool Coalition is a powerful new collective force for bringing these, and many other, benefits to fruition.”
– Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UNEP
UNEP and the International Energy Agency (IEA) produced the Cooling Emissions and Policy Synthesis Report: Benefits of cooling efficiency and the Kigali Amendment. The report affirms that transitioning the cooling sector to efficient, climate-friendly alternatives will be essential to meeting our climate and development goals. Without policies in place to control energy-related emissions from growing demand for cooling and associated HFC emissions, the cooling sector alone could, by 2050, use up the remaining carbon budget for staying under 1.5oC. Combining energy efficiency with refrigerant transition could avoid 210-460 gigatons of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2060 (equivalent to four to eight years of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 55 GtCO2e in 2018). Additional emissions reductions are possible from policies to improve mobile air conditioners (ACs) and refrigerated transport, reduce food loss from enhanced cold chain, and destruction of F-gas banks. The findings in the synthesis draw from the Assessment of Climate and Development Benefits of Efficient and Climate-Friendly Cooling available at ccacoalition.org/cooling-policy.
In January, K-CEP launched the NDC Support Facility to help developing country governments scale up efficient, climate-friendly cooling solutions and to encourage them to incorporate cooling efficiency in their enhanced NDCs, which All Parties to the Paris Agreement are requested to submit .
As countries look to enhance their emissions reductions commitments, many could benefit from the solutions presented by efficient, climate-friendly cooling. As such, K-CEP is offering support to partners—UN agencies, development banks, NGOs, academia, consultants, etc.—who are working directly with developing country governments to scale cooling initiatives and to embed such solutions into the next round of countries’ NDCs. The facility will provide funding and guidance to assist developing countries in conducting these activities . K-CEP is making up to US$12 million available to fund proposals under this facility between 2021 and 2023. Read more about the new NDC Support Facility here.
Mabe is a world leading refrigerator manufacturer in terms of commitment to the refrigerant transition and improving component efficiency. At ‘Scaling Up Efficient, Climate-friendly Cooling Solutions in Mexico’, a stakeholder event hosted by K-CEP and Iniciativa Climatica de México (ICM) in February 2020, Mabe announced that they will undertake a complete phase-out of all HFCs from their refrigerator production plants by the end of 2020. They are also committed to continue to improve the efficiency of all manufactured refrigerators, leading to energy efficiency enhancements of 10-25%. With K-CEP funding, Mabe has completed the design, manufacture, and testing protocols for energy-efficient compressors that will be used in all refrigerators in Latin America. This monumental commitment, in terms of both efficiency and climate-friendly substances, sets an example in the region and globally, and shows the potential for raising standards in Mexico so as to benefit consumers, national industry, and the environment.
“Mabe is providing a success story that highlights to policymakers that low-GWP transitions, coupled with improvements in energy efficiency, can occur rapidly and at scale in order to ratify and exceed international agreements.”
– Pablo Moreno, Head of Corporate Affairs, Mabe
In June 2019, China issued its Green and High-Efficiency Cooling Action Plan and became the third country committing to comprehensive action for sustainable cooling, following Rwanda and India. On December 31, 2019 the Chinese government published the first part of the revised room AC Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS), which will come into effect on July 1, 2020. As China is the biggest cooling technology manufacturer, consumer, and exporter[1] , the Chinese Green and High-Efficiency Cooling Action Plan and updated room AC MEPS, when 2022 step-up is implemented, are expected to have profound benefits on the global green cooling movement.
The Green and High-Efficiency Cooling Action Plan is the first-ever “master national guide to promote cooling efficiency,” and calls for “greatly improving the energy efficiency standards level of cooling products and eliminating inefficient cooling products from the market.” It establishes quantitative policy goals, such as requiring improved energy efficiency of major cooling products, including household ACs and multi-split AC systems. It recognizes the critical role of cooling efficiency in climate mitigation and prioritizes it as an important integrated policy field, bringing together policy and programmatic considerations across a range of stakeholders. The Green and High-Efficiency Cooling Action Plan could help reduce the electricity demand across all buildings by 18% by 2030, according to Energy Innovation. The Green and High-Efficiency Cooling Action Plan will inform the ongoing development of China’s fourteenth Five Year Plan (FYP), NDC enhancement and implementation of the Kigali Amendment in the future.
China’s 2019 revised room AC MEPS has combined fixed speed AC and variable speed AC into one integrated standard, which will significantly improve the entry-level efficiency of both products. The revised room AC MEPS, which has five grades, is considered to be the most stringent MEPS since the standards were introduced in 1998. China’s National Institute of Standardization indicates that the new standard will increase efficiency by around 14% overall, and would remove around 45% of room AC models from the market. LBNL analysis suggests that newly proposed MEPS would result in a 12.8% reduction in CO2 emissions between 2019 and 2050, and financial savings of 2620 billion renminbi (RMB), or US$374 billion, to China’s consumers. When implemented according to the draft standard from March 2019, an amendment to step-up the room AC efficiency level in 2022 would improve room AC efficiency by 21–38% over the standard prior to 2019.
The implementation of the Green and High-Efficiency Cooling Action Plan and enforcement of the MEPS remain a challenge, and will require a great deal of work by K-CEP and its partners. Full implementation of Green and High-Efficiency Cooling Action Plan could result in a 15-53% reduction in electricity consumption and CO2e savings by 2050. As the leading implementer, EFC has laid out a work plan for the second phase with five pillars, including cooling products’ MEPS development and compliance, export market, cooling retrofitting programs, HFC mitigations, and international cooperation.
[1] According to the Green and High-Efficiency Cooling Action Plan, China is the world’s biggest manufacturer, consumer, and exporter of cooling products, with an annual output worth 800 billion RMB, or US$115 billion. Across the world, over 80% of RACs and over 60% of refrigerators are made by China.
K-CEP promotes national, regional, and industrial policies, standards, and programs that achieve major reductions in GHG emissions from more efficient, climate-friendly cooling.
Together with its grantees, K-CEP supports the development and implementation of policies, standards, and programs for efficient, climate-friendly cooling in 23 countries and two regions (Southeast Asia and West Africa). This part of our work focuses on room air conditioners (room AC) and domestic refrigerators, covering:
The countries in which K-CEP’s Window 2 work is active represent high potential for energy savings, good geographic spread, diverse market conditions (e.g. manufacturing and importing economies), and a sufficient level of capacity to implement. K-CEP is also working with E3G to build country-specific political and economic awareness into all policy-relevant strategies, in order to help K-CEP partners successfully inform national policies, standards, and programs.
“We are pleased to have been one of the over 60 expert contributors to the U4E Model Regulation Guidelines for Refrigerating Appliances and Air Conditioners. We highly recommend using the guidelines to harmonize the energy efficiency levels, test procedures and other technical requirements in different countries for driving toward more sustainable cooling.”
– Lin Ling, Director of Resource and Environment Branch, China National Institute for Standardization (CNIS).
These model regulations are a guidance tool for governments that are considering a regulatory framework for appliance energy efficiency and low-GWP refrigerants. See case study below.
Different metrics, climates, and hours of usage make it hard to compare efficiency levels across countries. The new U4E Model Regulations Guidelines for Refrigerating Appliances and Air Conditioners, as well as supplementary material, provide a Rosetta Stone for defining what minimum, middle, and high-efficiency mean for different climate conditions. Launched in November 2019 at MOP31, this guidance responds directly to policymakers’ and funders’ needs to identify and promote high-efficiency cooling equipment while discouraging adoption of inefficient equipment. This comes at a time when demand for AC units and refrigerators is growing rapidly in a warming and more populous world, feeding a vicious cycle; as more ACs and refrigerators contribute to accelerating global warming.
While dozens of countries have MEPS and labeling policies, many are outdated and/or under-enforced, leaving significant room for improvement. These model regulations are a voluntary guidance tool for governments that are considering a regulatory or legislative framework for appliances to be energy-efficient and use refrigerants with a lower GWP. Setting and enforcing these policies will save consumers money on their electricity bills, make businesses more competitive, improve occupant health and well-being, mitigate emissions, and enhance grid resiliency and access to electricity.
To maximize the climate impact, energy efficiency improvements should be pursued alongside the refrigerant transition. The model regulations address both indirect emissions (i.e. reducing the waste of electricity) and direct emissions (i.e. limiting the GWP of refrigerants and foam blowing agents).
Using the model guidelines, as opposed to a bespoke country-by-country approach, can help speed up the regulatory process and enable countries to align on core MEPS requirements. In addition, when countries in a region pursue similar standard-setting approaches and robust enforcement, it can help them to avoid becoming dumping grounds for products that are illegal to be sold elsewhere in the region.
“Rwanda was pleased to be the first country to adopt the U4E Model Regulation Guidelines, which will help us to meet ever increasing cooling demand with much lower direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. We look forward to seeing Africa come together around the important work of clean cooling and encourage other countries to pursue such guidelines.”
– Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment, Rwanda
The model regulations reference the best practices and technology trends that are unfolding in a variety of major economies and have been shared broadly, including via webinar. They are designed to offer countries a range of possibilities including three tiers of efficiency levels and a proposed GWP limit. The high-efficiency tier can be used to set specifications for incentive programs.
“The U4E Model Regulation Guidelines offer an excellent frame of reference as the East African community pursues the adoption of MEPS and labeling for cooling products. Other regions that are seeking to transition their markets to more sustainable cooling should consider the global best practices identified in the guidelines, and evidenced in the Supporting Information Documents that underpin the Guidelines.”
– Dr. Mackay Okure, Executive Director, the East African Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (EACREEE)
An increasing number of countries and regional organizations are expressing interest in using the model regulations.
Mahindra & Mahindra, India’s largest vehicle producer and the world’s largest tractor producer, was one of the first companies to join the EP100 Cooling Challenge when it launched in September 2019. Currently, they are conducting trials of the latest cooling technologies in partnership with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) and plan to replace old equipment, including thousands of AC units. The company’s new plant in Chakan, India, expects a short payback period of a few years after installing super-efficient cooling technologies that will help save approximately 30% of its annual operating costs. The company is also testing radiant cooling, a process that uses cool surfaces to absorb heat, in its newly built offices.
“Cooling needs to be part of every conversation. We are a 70-year-old organization in a hot country, so we have experience with cooling, but there is always room for improvement.”
– Anirban Ghosh, Mahindra’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra & Mahindra
As a participant of the EP100 Cooling Challenge, Mahindra & Mahindra also benefited from a pro bono Level 1 ASHRAE Audit conducted by engineering firms Design2Occupancy Services LLP and Overdrive Engineering Pvt Ltd at its manufacturing facility in Nagpur, India. The audit identified the following key measures for improvements in cooling:
The Climate Group and its partner, Alliance to Save Energy, will be documenting Mahindra & Mahindra’s journey on cooling in 2020, and plan to share more details ahead of the EP100 Cooling Challenge one-year anniversary.
K-CEP provides grants and technical expertise to public and private banks, as well as investors, to help mobilize investments in efficient, climate-friendly cooling. Part of our work is to encourage new investors by defraying some of the transaction costs of entering into new markets. We also collaborate with governments to introduce consumer-targeted financial incentives, such as on-bill financing and national rebate programs, which can greatly increase sales of efficient, climate-friendly cooling products.
K-CEP is piloting innovative approaches to unlock finance for efficient, climate-friendly cooling. We provide targeted technical assistance grants to mobilize the capital needed to integrate energy efficiency improvements with the F-gas transition. Our grants cover a range of implementers across a broad geographic spread of developing countries and employ different financing approaches such as on-bill payment, credit lines and procurement schemes. They mobilize finance from private equity and debt, multilateral and national development banks, and commercial banks.
Work on Window 3 kicked off in 2019, with all six of the available grants allocated. The past year was one of awareness raising, pipeline development, and preparatory work to set a solid foundation for the delivery of results. In 2020, we expect to see these efforts begin to bear fruit.
| Grantee | Capital funding source | Funding modality | Country focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sustainable Development Capital LLP (SDCL) | Private finance | Cooling-as-a-Service | A5G1 countries*, with likely focus on Morocco, South Africa, Indonesia, and Malaysia |
| World Bank Group (WBG) | Multilateral development bank | Likely to include many different modalities | Global |
| UNEP | Private finance, Multilateral development bank, National development bank | Infrastructure investment, on-bill financing, credit lines, leasing | Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda |
| MGM Innova | Private finance | Lease-back operations | Latin America, with a focus on Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil |
| GIZ | Multilateral development bank | Public procurement | Bangladesh |
| China Industrial Bank | Commercial bank | Credit lines, equipment finance | China |
| *Developing countries in the fast phasedown group (A5G1) of the Kigali Amendment. | |||
“We, as Daikin Applied Latin America, see CaaS as an innovative way to deliver one-stop-shop solutions to the market, guaranteeing comfort and optimization of energy consumption. Through the CaaS Initiative, BASE and K-CEP have been providing excellent support to create the tools required to facilitate the implementation of the model in Latin America, and we are confident that we will rollout CaaS throughout the region.”
– Shu Kawasaki, Vice President, Daikin Latin America Operations.
The WBG’s ESMAP, funded by 18 partners, helps developing countries design and implement environmentally sustainable energy solutions. The ESMAP’s analytical and advisory services are fully integrated within the WBG’s country financing and policy dialogue in the energy sector. Its unique position in the WBG allows it to inform billions of dollars of WBG lending and influence the global energy dialogue. Its strong convening power helps coordinate international efforts, promote reform, and unlock new sources of investment.
In 2019, with K-CEP’s financial support, ESMAP set up its Efficient Clean Cooling Program. Recognizing that the demand for cooling is increasing globally, driven by growing populations, urbanization and rising income levels in developing countries, only to be exacerbated by rising temperatures, the program aims to accelerate the uptake of sustainable cooling solutions to address not just energy use but also leaking refrigerants that contribute to global warming. The program will provide technical assistance to ensure that efficient, climate-friendly cooling is included in new WBG investment projects and mobilize further financing.
The program will help countries to develop the necessary market infrastructure, financing mechanisms, and policies and regulations to deploy sustainable cooling at scale, focusing on air conditioning, refrigeration and cold chain; cool surfaces such as reflective roofs, walls and pavements; and mitigation of urban heat island effects. Another area of focus is to work with public and private sector partners to raise awareness around efficient, climate-friendly cooling opportunities in emerging markets.
K-CEP is excited to partner with ESMAP in putting efficient, climate-friendly cooling on WBG’s development agenda, and to learn that the Efficient Clean Cooling Program has been incorporated in ESMAP’s 2020-2024 business plan, thus continuing it well beyond the initial K-CEP support.
With K-CEP support, MGM Innova has adopted efficient, climate-friendly cooling and the transition towards low or zero GWP refrigerants as a focus area of its second MGM Sustainable Energy Fund (MSEF II). One initiative that is currently being tested is an equipment financing program with Colombian retailer, Rayco, which has several outlets throughout the country. Through this program, MGM Innova aims to reach lower income residential customers and SMEs, who do not have access to commercial credit and who are often neglected due to small ticket sizes and high perceived credit risk.
The scheme involves a flow of funds to Rayco from MSEF II via a special purpose entity (SPE) set up for this purpose. Rayco would extend credit to clients for cooling equipment purchases (e.g. ACs and/or refrigerators) and be responsible for after-sales service as well as equipment collection in the case of replacement. Old equipment would be disposed of through Colombia’s Red Verde (“green network”), which is a post-consumer program operated on behalf of participating manufacturers to manage equipment end-of-life. The client would reimburse the credit through a collection channel, including on-bill payment to the utility, which would then transfer the funds to the SPE. In order to manage risk, the SPE would avail of a guarantee, to be provided by a Guarantee Fund. In the event of credit defaults, the Guarantee Fund would reimburse the SPE.
Working with an established retailer allows MGM Innova to “outsource” management of customer credit and benefit from established logistical support for equipment sales, delivery, and collection. The potential for replication is huge, not only in Colombia but elsewhere in the region. The pilot phase of the project has an allocation of US$500,000 and is expected to start shortly. It will test the model and allow fine-tuning of the scheme, following which MGM Innova plans to allocate US$6 million towards the project. With recycling of funds, MGM Innova expects to be able to finance around US$23.5 million of equipment over a seven-year period.
K-CEP and its partners focus on the economic, health, and other development risks arising from lack of access to cooling in developing nations. Our Window 4 work aims to make access to efficient, climate-friendly cooling a sustainable development priority rather than a luxury for the few, as well as avoid a lock-in of high-carbon technologies, by collaborating with partners to help provide local solutions to populations most at risk.
As global average temperatures rise and deadly heatwaves become more common, it is clear that access to cooling is not just a luxury but that it must be a development priority. Meanwhile, refrigeration for food and vaccines underpins global health outcomes, as well as the livelihoods of farmers and fishers.
According to SEforALL, 1.05 billion people globally face risks related to a lack of access to cooling. Through Window 4, K-CEP and its grantees aim to address this gap, through both a set of pilot projects and cross cutting awareness raising, advocacy, and research to raise the profile of access to cooling as a development need. We work on three interconnecting themes: health, food systems, and the built environment. SEforALL is the Cooling for All Secretariat, serving as a platform for focused responses to increase access to cooling.
Humanitarian healthcare workers often face a number of challenges in the hard-to-reach areas where they tend to be located. Such issues include blackouts and unreliable energy supplies following natural disasters, the need to use polluting fuels such as diesel for energy to cool (which impact local air quality and health), and high energy costs resulting from the use of inefficient, fossil fuel dependent technologies. Meanwhile, the emissions from existing humanitarian supply chains and equipment contribute further to disasters such as hurricanes. K-CEP is working with the Direct Relief to identify and deploy sustainable cooling equipment in pilot projects across a range of pre- and post-disaster scenarios.
The MCR Challenge is an initiative in K-CEP’s Window 4 to accelerate the establishment of solar reflective “cool” roofs as a key passive cooling solution in markets where there is an acute lack of access to cooling. Ten teams were granted US$100,000 Boost Grants to establish cool roofs markets in their countries, and to compete for a US$1 million prize to be awarded to the team that installs or catalyzes the installation of one million square meters of new, high-quality cool roofs.
MCR teams are testing a wide variety of approaches from purely commercial ventures, to municipal policy changes. There are teams finding creative ways to grow and sustain markets, such as using the proceeds of recycling programs to fund cool roofs on schools. The challenge has also galvanized interest from global roofing suppliers such as BASF, Topps, and GAF, who are leveraging their interest in MCR to become more engaged in the effort to accelerate passive solutions to the global cooling crisis.
The teams are now undertaking monitored demonstrations to quantify the energy efficiency and thermal comfort benefits that will help spur market demand and policy development. Highlights include a demonstration in a factory in Indonesia where the cool roof reduced indoor air temperatures by a phenomenal 5-10°C during working hours.
In Bangladesh, the team is going beyond indoor temperature impacts by monitoring and evaluating students’ heart rates and blood viscosity before and after cool roofs were installed on their primary school, in order to determine whether cooler indoor temperatures are improving their health.
The MCR team in Côte d’Ivoire is working to solve two problems at once by helping student volunteers to gather and sell metal and plastic waste to recyclers to fund cool roof installations on their school (both primary and secondary schools are participating).
Each team is taking a unique approach to the challenge and, in addition to delivering a critical passive cooling solution where it is needed most, they are demonstrating replicable ways to overcome the barriers to implementation.
While national policies and programs are strong drivers for transforming markets to more efficient, climate-friendly cooling, government priorities do not always align. Changes to the way climate change is addressed can greatly impact the effectiveness of national policies. In such cases, more effective pathways may be at the subnational levels. Recent history has shown the rise of coalitions and groups, globally and nationally, aimed at supporting the planning and activities of cities, states and regions. Some examples include:
While K-CEP has mainly worked at the national and global levels, we also support strategies at a subnational level, which can often be highly effective. In some cases, our grantees have pivoted toward such aligned strategies when hitting political headwinds at the national level – thus keeping valuable momentum. Here are some examples of how cities and regional governments are leading the way on creative, community-based solutions.
In June 2019, the Ashden Award for Cooling by Nature, supported by K-CEP with SEforALL, selected the Colombian city of Medellin as the first winner of this new award. The city’s Green Corridors initiative is a community-based vegetation planting project that responds to rising urban temperatures, driven by climate change. The planted vegetation shades cyclists and pedestrians, cools built up areas, and cleans the air along busy roads. The city’s botanical gardens have trained people from disadvantaged backgrounds to become city gardeners and planting technicians. Since launching the initiative, temperatures have fallen by 2-3°C in places, with even bigger reductions expected in the future. Read more about Medellin’s Green Corridors project here.
“Life has been returning to the Green Corridors in the city, both animals and people. We have seen a real cultural change come from giving people the ownership of taking care of the environment in Medellin. We want the world to see that we are changing and that we are doing it by working hard and working together. We have surpassed the worst problems you can imagine by seeing them as opportunities to unite people. Violence is no longer the worst problem we are facing – climate change is. And this is not just in Medellin, but all over the world. It is an honour to be recognised with this Ashden Award for the work we are doing to tackle this and we hope to see many more cities take this approach in the future.”
– Federico Gutierrez Zuluaga, Mayor of Medellin, Colombia (2016-2019)
Over half of the Boost Awardee teams for the MCR Challenge are engaging with local and state governments to maximize local engagement and impact:
See the MCR Challenge case study for more information.
The K-CEP Results Framework is key to both guiding and tracking our progress. It lays out our planned outcomes and expected impacts, provides the foundation for our strategy, and is the basis for defining priorities and activities during each program year. The overall Results Framework was agreed with our Funders, and we have worked with our partners to determine how projects, individually and collectively, contribute toward K-CEP results. The following table shows our progress toward Results Framework activities (sections A and B) and outcomes (section O). Hover over the items in the Progress column for details.
Activity-Level Results Legend
| Activity Description | Measure of Success | Progress | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | At least 15 K-CEP Immediate Action projects (with verified emissions methodology) are announced. | A1.1: Number of K-CEP immediate action projects (with verified emissions methodology) that are announced. | Completed & Exceeded19 projects in the following countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica,* Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala*, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria,* Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam (* countries that are new in Year 3) |
| A2 | A5 Group 1 parties submit views that advance energy efficiency. | A2.1: Number of A5 Group 1 parties submitting views that advance energy efficiency in the Montreal Protocol (with support from K-CEP). | Completed & OngoingIn 2018, 17 A5 Group 1 countries plus the 54 countries in the Africa Group made written submissions or verbal interventions in support of energy efficiency. In 2019, parties agreed at MOP 31 on Decision XXX1/7 to continue seeking information on "best practices, availability, accessibility and cost of energy-efficient technologies". Learn More |
| A3 | A “strengthening for efficiency” package of support is launched. | A3.1: Launch meeting or event for the”‘strengthening for efficiency” package of support is held. | Completed |
| A4 | Technical assistance is provided to approximately 10 countries for energy-efficient cooling policies, standards, and programs. | A4.1: Number of countries receiving technical assistance for energy-efficient cooling policies, standards, and programs. | Exceeded & OngoingTarget = 10 Actual = 38 • 26 national cooling plans: Argentina, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia,* Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Sri Lanka, South Africa,* Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay, and Vietnam. • 19 MEPS: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, China, the Cook Islands, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Palau, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam. • 12 Financial mechanisms: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, the Cook Islands, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Jamaica, Lebanon, Mexico, Palau, Rwanda, and Saint Lucia. • Compliance testing program: Benin,* Brazil, Burkina Faso,* Cote d'Ivoire,* Egypt, Ghana, Guinea Bissau,* Mali,* Niger,* Nigeria, Senegal,* South Africa, Thailand, Togo,* Vietnam ("*" indicates countries that are new in Year 3) |
| A5 | Opportunities are identified for K-CEP and MP funds (including the $27 million announced in Kigali) to be co-invested, coordinated, or enhanced. | A5.1: Dollar amount of MP funding (including the $27M pledge in Kigali) allocated for co-investment with, coordination with, or enhancement of K-CEP funds. | Ongoing, with notable results |
| A6 | A UN global panel on access to cooling is convened. | A6.1: UN global panel on access to cooling is convened. | Completed, Panel convenings ongoingCompleted. Panel convenings are ongoing. |
| A7 | A corporate cooling-efficiency buyers and/or sellers club is launched. | A7.1: Number of companies signed up for corporate cooling-efficiency buyers’ and/or sellers’ clubs. | Completed & OngoingTo date, 35 companies signed up for corporate cooling-efficiency buyers’ and/or sellers’ clubs: 23 Cooling as a Service (CaaS) supporting partners; 5 CaaS incubator partners; and 7 EP100 Cooling Challenge companies. |
| A8 | The K-CEP finance facility is launched and is active. | A8.1: The K-CEP finance facility is launched. | Completed |
| A8.2: The K-CEP finance facility is active. | Completed & Ongoing |
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| A9 | The Kigali Cooling Efficiency Tracker is launched, and market and technology baselines are established. | A9.1: Kigali Cooling Efficiency Tracker is launched. | Completed |
| A9.2: Market baseline is established. | Completed |
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| A9.3: Technology baseline is established. | Completed |
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| B1 | At least 100 ozone officers and at least 35 energy efficiency policymakers are provided with support in energy efficiency through twinning. | B1.1: Number of ozone officers trained in energy efficiency. B1.2: Number of energy-efficiency policymakers trained in energy-efficient cooling. | ExceededCompleted. Ozone Officers Target = 100 Actual = 261 Energy Efficiency Policymakers Target = 35 Actual = 160 |
| B2 | Some 80 dedicated energy efficiency officers (staff or consultants) are hired (on a short-term basis reflecting the timeline and resources of K-CEP). | B2.1: Number of dedicated energy efficiency officers (staff or consultants) hired (on at least a short-term basis). | Progress slower than expected36 energy efficiency officers/consultant were hired in 2019 |
| B3 | More than 50 cooling-efficiency implementation projects (including the 15 or so immediate action projects) are launched. | B3.1: Number of cooling-efficiency implementation projects (including grants announced in A1) launched by K-CEP or grantees with K-CEP funding and/or leveraged funds. | On-goingTo date, 38 implementation projects have been launched. |
| B3.2: Number of cooling-efficiency implementation projects completed by the end of K-CEP Phase 1 by K-CEP or grantees with K-CEP funding and/or leveraged funds. | In ProgressOverall, funded projects have been advancing well. |
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| B4 | The Global Access to Cooling Report is launched, leveraging new funds, policies and/or programs. | B4.1: The Global Access to Cooling Report is launched. | Exceeded SEforALL, in partnership with K-CEP, released two reports as part of the groundbreaking Chilling Prospects series. Released in 2018, "Chilling Prospects: Providing Sustainable Cooling for All" was a global wake-up call – and was the first report to define and quantify the magnitude of the global cooling access challenge and call for new and sustained action to address the issue. "Chilling Prospects: Tracking Sustainable Cooling for All 2019" serves as a status update. It profiles fast action in access to cooling, provides an update on global access to cooling gaps, and provides policymakers, the private sector and development financiers with tools and guidance on how to accelerate progress on areas of priority. |
| B4.2: Dollar amount of funds leveraged for the types of work recommended by the report. | OngoingK-CEP funding leveraged over $4.8M USD from the Swiss government: $1.6M USD to SEforALL for expansion and extension of Cooling for All work and $3.2M USD to support access to cooling through K-CEP's NDC Support Facility. |
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| B4.3: Number of new policies or programs proposed by the types of organizations identified by the report. | OngoingAshden has launched the new 2020 Ashden Cool Cities Award, Direct Relief has started work on pilot efficient and climate-friendly medical cold chains for disaster response. |
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| B5 | All A5 Group 1 countries have access to support to identify best practice cooling efficiency options. | B5.1: Number of A5 Group 1 countries that have been provided with access to training, informational materials, or online resources through K-CEP. | Completed & OngoingTraining has been provided to government officials in all 137 A5 countries through UNE’s twinning work in 2018/2019. Informational materials are available publicly online through various websites, including www.k-cep.org/insights/resources/ K-CEP lessons were incorporated into the TEAP Energy Efficiency Task Force report in 2019. |
| B6 | Cooling efficiency proposals for additional funding are written with support of the K-CEP. | B6.1: Number of proposals for non-K-CEP funding that are written with support of ECO or K-CEP grantees. | Ongoing, with notable resultsTo date, a total of 71 cooling efficiency proposals have been developed. |
| B7 | K-CEP lessons are disseminated. | B7.1: Number of K-CEP knowledge products and briefs shared with K-CEP stakeholders. | OngoingTo date, 31 K-CEP knowledge products and briefs were posted on the K-CEP website and distributed through the quarterly newsletter. |
| B7.2: Percent of grantee projects for which K-CEP lessons have been shared with ECO team. | OngoingAll grantees shared lessons learned with the ECO team, and those participating in the annual strategy meeting in Mexico City directly shared lessons learned with others in the K-CEP community. |
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| B7.3: Number of individuals receiving the K-CEP newsletter. | OngoingK-CEP newsblasts and newsletters were delivered to 813 recipients. |
| Outcome Description | Measure of Success | Progress | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Approximately 10 countries formally propose, adopt, or implement best practice cooling efficiency policies, standards, or programs. | O1.1: Number of countries that formally propose, adopt, or implement best practice cooling efficiency policies, standards, or programs. | OngoingTo date, 5 countries proposed or adopted best practice policies: Kenya, Rwanda, China, South Africa, Brazil |
| O1.2: Number of best-practice cooling efficiency policies, standards, or programs formally proposed, adopted, or implemented. | Ongoing with notable resultsTo date, 11 best-practice cooling efficiency policies, standards, or programs have been formally proposed, adopted, or implemented. Kenya Room AC MEPS (adopted) - This room AC standard at 3.1 EER will be the first fully implemented room AC standard in Kenya. Efficiency levels for RACs in the Kenyan market are generally low. Adopting a MEPS level of 3.1 EER would eliminate 73% of the AC models available in the market in 2018. Kenya domestic refrigerator MEPS (proposed) - In April 2019, Kenya proposed a MEPS for domestic refrigerators. Once it is adopted by the Kenya Bureau of Standards the efficiency improvement from the previous MEPS will be as much as 40% depending on the product type and removing nearly 50% of models available on the market. Rwanda Room AC MEPS (adopted) - AND - Rwanda Refrigerator MEPS (adopted) - incorporated into its National Cooling Plan MEPS and labels for both room AC and domestic refrigerators based on U4E’s Model Regulations, which establish best practice levels for different climate conditions. China VRF MEPS (proposed) - The draft revision of VRF MEPS will be posted for public comments in April. The draft revision proposes an energy efficiency improvement by 40.5%, among which its minimum allowable value is comparable with the ERP of the EU and equivalent to AHRI of the US. Also, Grade 1 of the revision reaches the international VRF best practice of energy efficiency performance. China RAC MEPS (proposed) - China proposed the first step of revised MEPS for room ACs which would result in a 14% increase in efficiency and CO2 emissions reductions of 12.8% between 2019 and 2050. The 2022 step-up in the draft standard would save an additional 15% to 53% once implemented. South Africa refrigerator MEPS (proposed) - Overall improvement of 44%, meeting the current EU MEPS levels. South Africa refrigerator/freezer MEPS (proposed) - Overall improvement of 44%, meeting the current EU MEPS levels. South Africa freezer MEPS (proposed) - Implementation won't be until 2024, but will move from a C to A+, an increase in efficiency of 56%. Rwanda “Coolease” financial scheme (adopted) - The mechanism allows suppliers and consumers of air conditioners and refrigerators to transition to the latest energy efficient technology (at least 20% efficiency improvement) without an upfront investment. Brazil revised Room AC label (proposed) - This would require products seeking the new top “A” rating to be 63% more efficient than current “A” rated products when the label goes into effect in 2022. Progress on these 10 best-practice cooling efficiency policies, standards, or programs have been formally proposed, adopted, or implemented will continue to be monitored. |
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| O1.3 Number of cooling efficiency policies, standards, or programs formally proposed, adopted, or implemented that are more stringent or implemented faster than would otherwise have been the case without K-CEP support. | Ongoing with notable resultsTo date, there are 9 policies. Brazil (1): Brazil adopted a revised MEPS for room AC mini-splits (16% improvement and labeling revision). This regulation, which went into effect in June 2018, represents noteworthy improvement considering barriers to best practice implementation. Lebanon (2): Amid political challenges, Lebanon passed its first-ever MEPS for refrigerators and ACs. The MEPS are tied to the European standards and are included in the National Cooling Plan. Once implemented, the impacts to the marketplace will be significant, with 40% of refrigerators and 32% of ACs being removed. South Africa (1): In a recent round of proposed MEPS, ACs received a speedy revision. The last MEPS was in 2015 and, given that the lifetime of an AC is ~11yrs, so the new MEPS will go into effect before the current MEPS has replaced all the current stock of ACs. this means that the actual energy savings will be higher than just that which will be delivered by the 7% improvement for new sales. Also, the ACs being regulated are the types of units that are popular with consumers, which have an average per year growth in sales of 6.5%. Philippines (1): After 18 years, the proposed revision to the AC MEPS represent a 15% increase in efficiency with 30% of the least efficient models dropping out of the market. Fixed speed units represent 41% of the products being removed from the market. Cook Islands (3): The first-ever MEPS for domestic ACs, refrigerators and commercial display refrigeration were prepared this year, aligning with energy efficiency standards in Australia and New Zealand. For the popular, small cooling capacity AC units, the proposed standard is about 10% more stringent than ACs imported by local suppliers. Ghana (1): K-CEP support to UNDP to train customs officials in Ghana resulted in the implementation of a policy passed in 2007 but for which there has been no ability to implement. In the year of 2019, about 84 unapproved refrigeration units were confiscated at the ports (trainings were completed in the last quarter of 2019). |
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| O2 | More than 10 countries publish energy efficiency management plans to integrate energy efficiency into their refrigerant transition. | O2.1: Numberof countries that publish energy efficiency management plans that contain substantive actions to integrate energy efficiency into their refrigerant transition. | OngoingTo date, 5 national cooling plans have been published: China, Cuba, Panama, Rwanda, and Trinidad & Tobago |
| O3 | Montreal Protocol reports (including TEAP revisions and ExCom guidance on finance) and Multilateral Fund funding (including the $27 million pledge by governments at Kigali) reflect energy efficiency best practices. | O3.1: The finance report and other relevant energy efficiency reports from Montreal Protocol bodies reflect views of K-CEP-supported countries that advance energy efficiency. | Ongoing, with notable resultsIn May 2019, the TEAP Energy Efficiency "Task Force Final Report on Cost and Availability of Low-GWP Technologies/Equipment that Maintain/Enhance Energy Efficiency" incorporated K-CEP supported studies and projects by NREL, CLASP, LBNL, and U4E |
| O4 | High-efficiency technology increases its market penetration in target markets. | O4.1: Percent of cooling technology sold that is high efficiency in countries receiving K-CEP support. | In progressIn progress. This will be reported at the end of K-CEP Phase 1. |
| O5 | The number of people with increased access to efficient, low GWP cooling increases. | O5.1: Number of people with new access to cooling. | In progressIn progress. This will be reported at the end of K-CEP Phase 1. |
| O6 | Corporate "cooling efficiency" buyers and/or sellers clubs expand the market share of high-efficiency cooling technologies. | O6.1: Percent of cooling technology sold that is high-efficiency in countries where corporate cooling efficiency buyers and/or sellers clubs are buying or selling cooling products. | Progress slower than expectedThis will be reported at the end of K-CEP Phase 1. |
| O7 | The K-CEP mobilizes more than $250 million. | O7.1: Dollars mobilized. | OngoingInformation forthcoming. This will be reported at the end of K-CEP Phase 1. |
| O8 | Countries commit to, initiate, or experience an accelerated HFC phase down because of energy efficiency initiatives supported by K-CEP. | O8.1: Number of countries where HFCs would be phased down more quickly because of K-CEP support for cooling efficiency. | OngoingProgress continues. For example, in Rwanda's HPMP II extension (for implementation from 2021), the recommendations of the National Cooling Strategy were considered. This could lead to a faster phase down of HFCs alongside the HCFC phaseout. |
| O9 | At least 10 countries add cooling efficiency policies, standards, or programs to their NDC. | O9.1: Percent of countries that add cooling efficiency policies, standards, or programs to their NDC by the end of 2020. | In progressK-CEP has launched an NDC Support Facility for Efficient, Climate-Friendly Cooling with funding available up to $12M USD to support countries who wish to embed commitments on cooling in their enhanced NDCs in the run up to COP26. K-CEP is already seeing substantive interest in this program. For more information see https://www.k-cep.org/ndc-support-facility/. A number of countries have already submitted enhanced NDCs in 2020. Two of them - Moldova and Japan - include efficient, climate-friendly cooling. |
| O10 | Efficient, low GWP cooling is elevated to a priority development issue. | O10.1: SEforALL Chilling Prospects report is published, and Cooling for All Outlook reports are published in 2019 and 2020 | OngoingSEforAll launched "Chilling Prospects: Tracking Sustainable Cooling for All 2019" at a side event at MOP31 in Rome. |
| O10.2: Percent of ODA funding directed to cooling. | In progressIn progress. This will be reported at the end of K-CEP Phase 1. |
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| O10.3: UNE global campaign launched. | Completed with notable resultsThe Cool Coalition was launched at the First Global Conference on Synergies between the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement. Led by UNEP, K-CEP, and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), the Cool Coalition aims to inspire ambition and accelerate action in the transition to efficient, climate-friendly cooling. The Cool Coalition is one of the official outcomes and “Transformational Initiatives” put forward by the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General for the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in September 2019. Details about the 100 actors and 150 commitments are included in the event’s brochure. Numerous governments championed the efforts, including Bangladesh, Denmark, Lebanon, Norway, the Seychelles, and the UK. |
The IEA is working with K-CEP to support developing countries’ transition to efficient, climate-friendly cooling solutions. As part of this, the Kigali Progress Tracker contains a database that stores information on the AC equipment models that have been placed on the global market over the last few years. This database includes information pertaining to the technology, energy efficiency, and in many cases, refrigerants used. It is populated from a variety of sources, including K-CEP funded projects and K-CEP partners. Importantly, this activity enables the efficiency of cooling equipment to be tracked over time (figure below). Over the last few years, there has been a continuous increase in the efficiency of new AC equipment globally. However if climate mitigation goals are to be met, the energy efficiency of new equipment must increase by another 50% within the next ten years.
The majority of recent improvements in efficiency have been driven by policy initiatives introduced by national governments, such as MEPS, which can be key policy instruments, particularly when coupled with longer term commitments in NCPs. Furthermore, an increasing number of countries are planning to include cooling commitments in their forthcoming enhanced NDCs. As part of K-CEP activities and other global efforts to improve the efficiency of cooling, the IEA is tracking policies as they are developed and implemented around the world. By the end of 2019, more than 60 countries had implemented MEPS for AC equipment[1].
K-CEP is currently active in 52 developing countries, supporting stakeholders in the development and implementation of NCPs, MEPS, and other policies and programs. The IEA has set up bespoke impact assessment models to show the expected future annual energy, cost savings, and carbon emission reductions of these initiatives, with full assessments expected later this year and in early 2021. The IEA will also be working on estimating the expected savings from dozens of individual K-CEP projects, including CaaS, MCR activities, and manufacturing plant upgrades. These assessments will provide insight into and evidence of the overall GHG impact of such interventions.
[1] Source: https://www.iea.org/areas-of-work/promoting-energy-efficiency/kigali-cooling-efficiency-programme
The ECO is the K-CEP secretariat housed at the ClimateWorks Foundation. The ECO team is responsible for strategy development, grantmaking, fundraising, reporting, program management, and governance, as well as broader collaboration activities in the field, working to achieve efficient, climate-friendly cooling. In K-CEP’s third year, which ran from April 2019 through to March 2020, the ECO comprised:
Dan Hamza-Goodacre: Executive Director
The ECO continued to evolve the K-CEP strategy, by linking K-CEP’s work to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through the launch of the NDC Support Facility for Efficient, Climate-Friendly Cooling (NDC Support Facility), and by putting cooling on the radar of Presidents and Prime Ministers at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York.
The ECO secured over US$10 million in additional finance, expanding the donor collaboration to include two new foundations and two governments.
The ECO was also extremely active in helping secure results through direct engagement with policymakers, businesses, and financiers. The ECO worked as advocates for change, sharing knowledge and making the case for efficient, climate-friendly cooling.
The ECO strengthened and grew K-CEP collaborations over the last year, bringing our total partners to 52. Over 100 partners joined K-CEP’s annual meeting in Mexico City in February, and mid-year meetings for each K-CEP window were also held across the world. The ECO presented at over 50 events and webinars, helping to share insights into efficient, climate-friendly cooling with partners and other stakeholders. Engagements included:
K-CEP participated in webinars and videos that have engaged over one thousand stakeholders and have included online content for:
ECO team members have visited various governments and businesses around the world, including in Mexico, China, Bangladesh, and Thailand.
The ECO team worked in partnership with UNEP, SEforALL, E3G, and many others to launch the Cool Coalition in April 2019, and to grow the coalition to nearly 100 members. The ECO team also collaborated closely with the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action team for the 2019 summit, to spearhead the contribution of the Cool Coalition to the call for ambition, securing over 150 commitments from more than 100 actors.
The ECO team continued to provide quarterly newsletters to K-CEP’s community of over one thousand subscribers. Additionally, the ECO has started sending out ‘newsblasts’ to offer more timely and concise updates on work and results. The K-CEP website is frequently updated to include new insight resources, and our social media presence has grown this year, having launched a LinkedIn page, and made more use of Twitter to share K-CEP news, as well as general updates on cooling. Our following on Twitter has now grown to over 1,800 followers. Communications materials were produced for both the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit and for the NDC Support Facility. Christina Hayes also joined the ECO team to provide communications support.
From July to September 2019, the ECO team commissioned Alto Analytics to review the state of the digital conversation about cooling. The review revealed that the scale of the digital conversation about cooling is small, dominated by business (not policy or finance) and was only weakly linked to climate action. These findings suggest more work is needed to raise the profile of cooling among important stakeholders, and to create more direct links with climate action.
In K-CEP’s third year, the ECO team helped develop and operationalize over 14 new grants, bringing the total number of grants under management to 61. The team has also strategized with partners to rescope seven grants in order to overcome challenges.
The independent evaluation of K-CEP, led by Itad, found that “ECO is well set up to ensure the efficient delivery of K-CEP outcomes…and has built its operation systems and processes in an adaptive ‘learning by doing’ way”.
The ECO continues to report quarterly to the K-CEP Funder Steering Committee (FSC), using the regular ‘scorecard’ as well as deep dives into important issues and opportunities. These quarterly updates are complemented with specific support to funders and the FSC Chair on key matters for the success of the program. The ECO team also keeps the ClimateWorks Board and Executive Team up to date through regular reporting and engagement.
K-CEP seeks to align our grant-making approach with our mission. Our work to promote efficient, climate-friendly cooling for developing countries means that we aim to be:
Our mission is an urgent one, and for K-CEP to deliver its promised results within its program’s lifespan, it must move quickly. To date, K-CEP has allocated all of its funding, of which 93% has been awarded.
K-CEP provides many multi-year grants, allowing grantees to create effective multi-year implementation plans. It operates on a milestone-driven approach to ensure value for money and accountability for results. The ECO team implements K-CEP’s programs with a lean staff, so as to maximize the percentage of K-CEP funding which goes to grants. K-CEP also seeks opportunities to collaborate with other funding organizations, and to find partnerships with organizations and individuals in the public and private sector, through which combined efforts can achieve greater impact.
K-CEP’s grant-making provides an opportunity to promote capacity-building within developing country institutions. Encouraging grantees to hire local experts increases the likelihood of impacts being sustainable in the long term in the countries in which K-CEP works.
To achieve maximum impact, K-CEP seeks to leverage the vast amount of talent and expertise within its grantee institutions. K-CEP invests to bring together grantees, experts, and funders for in-person and virtual collaborations, allowing best-practices sharing on common challenges while creating a strong supportive network. In early 2020, over 100 cooling experts from government, civil society and business met in Mexico City for the Third K-CEP Annual Strategy Meeting.
The K-CEP ECO team is excited for what’s next in store. As we begin the fourth year of our program, we are also in the process of thinking through K-CEP’s second phase. In K-CEP Phase II, we plan to shift from a narrow focus on cooling efficiency only to a broader cooling frame in order to include a wider swathe of cooling-related mitigation opportunities. K-CEP will continue to focus on policy, finance, and raising the importance of access to efficient, climate-friendly cooling as a development priority, and will increase its focus on industry partnerships and engagement. The K-CEP ECO team is now actively fundraising for K-CEP Phase II and developing our grantmaking strategy, all the while still focused on securing results for Phase 1. The future for K-CEP is looking bright. We have already secured funds for Phase 2 from three philanthropic funders, plus additional funds from our first government donor, and are actively working on other partnerships.
17 foundations and individuals have generously contributed to K-CEP.
Bill Gates
Children’s Investment Fund Foundation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Josh and Anita Bekenstein
John and Ann Doerr
Laura and John Arnold
Sea Change Foundation
| Country | K-CEP partners | Project Description | Window | MEPS work | National cooling plan | Compliance program/ testing | Industrial conversion | Servicing/ maintenance | Increased access to efficient cooling | Financial mechanisms | Awareness-raising & Campaigns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | UNIDO | Support to refrigerator manufacturers to improve EE during the F-gas transition, market barrier assessment and implementation support for MEPS | 1 | X | X | X | X | ||||
| Incentives and financing mechanisms to encourage domestic demand for high-EE refrigerators and Acs | 2 | X | |||||||||
| Bangladesh | UNDP | Improving EE during the HFC phase-down in the domestic refrigerator manufacturing sector | 1 | X | |||||||
| GIZ | to survey energy efficiency in public buildings in Bangladesh | 3 | X | ||||||||
| Bangladesh, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ghana, Lebanon, Nigeria, Panama, Sri Lanka, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay, Mexico | UNDP | Support to draft and publish national cooling efficiency plans in 13 countries | 1 | X | |||||||
| Brazil | Institute for Climate and Society (iCS) | Support to draft and publish national EE strategy for the AC sector and capacity-building to strengthen EE standards and labeling and support implementation | 2 | X | X | X | X | ||||
| Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP) | Technical analysis on Brazil AC MEPS and labels | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Uma Gota No Oceano | Raising energy efficiency awareness in Brazil’s AC Sector | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Caribbean - Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Barbados | UN Environment | Supporting financial mechanisms and policies for clean, efficient cooling in the Caribbean tourism sector, MEPS, and national cooling plans | 2 | X | X | X | |||||
| China | Development Reimagined | Research on South-South Cooperation between China and developing countries for environmentally friendly AC | 2 | X | |||||||
| Energy Foundation China | China cooling efficiency project: commercial AC MEPS, national cooling roadmap, early peaking cities cooling initiative, and market transformation | 2 | X | X | |||||||
| Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) | China Cooling campaign - consumer awareness raising | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), China Industrial Bank (CIB), Tsinghua University | Financing cooling efficiency improvement in commercial buildings and cold storage logistics companies | 3 | X | ||||||||
| China, Philippines, Argentina | Health Care Without Harm | Hospital cooling energy audits and advocacy for the adoption of energy monitoring systems | 4 | X | |||||||
| Colombia | UNDP | Embedding EE into the Colombian supermarket sector during the F gas transition | 1 | X | X | ||||||
| UNDP | For continued work to improve the energy efficiency of propane-based commercial air conditioners in Colombia | 1 | X | ||||||||
| Costa Rica | UNDP | Development of a sectoral energy plan for district cooling in Costa Rica | 1 | ||||||||
| ECOWAS, including Cape Verde, Nigeria | Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP) | Regional compliance program for ECOWAS region | 2 | X | |||||||
| Ecuador, Guatemala, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Uganda | UNIDO | Support to refrigerator manufacturers to improve EE during the F-gas transition | 1 | X | |||||||
| Egypt | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) | AC standard, compliance and implementation support | 2 | X | X | ||||||
| Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda | UN Environment | Egypt: Scaling up investment in clean, efficient district cooling systems | 3 | X | |||||||
| Ghana and Senegal: ECOWAS refrigerators initiative | 3 | X | |||||||||
| Rwanda: Cooling finance initiative | 3 | X | |||||||||
| Ghana | UNDP | AC sector rebate and enforcing EE in the servicing sector | 1 & 2 | X | X | ||||||
| Global | Ashden Awards | Cooling for People award | 4 | X | X | ||||||
| For continued support to develop an award to help identify and showcase sustainable cooling technologies | 4 | X | X | ||||||||
| Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE) | "Cooling as a Service" business model | 2 | X | ||||||||
| For continued work on scaling the use of environmentally friendly and energy efficient cooling systems through the use and promotion of a “Cooling as a Service” business model | 2 | X | X | ||||||||
| Consortium led by Toby Peters | Guide to impact investment in clean cooling | 3 | X | ||||||||
| CDP | Research report to identify HVAC companies that are best suited to transition to a low carbon economy | 2 | X | ||||||||
| CDP Worldwide | Identify HVAC companies that are best suited to transition to a low carbon economy | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Direct Relief | Increase access to efficient refrigeration for cold-chain vaccines and medicines | 4 | X | ||||||||
| Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) | Working with the Consumer Goods Forum to support global corporate and policy measures on EE, climate-friendly cooling in supermarkets | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Global Cool Cities Alliance (GCCA) | One Million Cool Roofs Challenge - technical advisory | 4 | X | ||||||||
| International Energy Agency (IEA) | Kigali Action Tracker | Tracker | |||||||||
| Regional Training workshops incorporating Cooling for All materials | 4 | X | |||||||||
| National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) | Compressor supply chain mapping and analysis | 2 | |||||||||
| Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) | Supporting global efforts to improve standards and labeling for efficient cooling | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Testing program to verify the accuracy of EE and refrigerant certifications for Acs | 2 | X | |||||||||
| Research, analysis and recommendations on EE for the Montreal Protocol | 2 | X | |||||||||
| Nesta | One Million Cool Roofs Challenge fund management | 4 | X | X | |||||||
| Project X | Improving the EE and performance of cold storage and transportation for vaccines | 4 | X | ||||||||
| SEforALL | Cooling for All - Global panel & report on Access to Cooling | 4 | X | ||||||||
| Cooling for All - secretariat role and implementation advisory | 4 | X | |||||||||
| For continued support to expand access to integrated cooling solutions | 4 | X | X | ||||||||
| The Climate Group | Support global businesses in a commitment to increasing energy productivity and cooling efficiency | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G) | Cool Platform for International Political Economy (Cool PIPE) | 2 | X | ||||||||
| UN Environment | Global high-level leadership, advocacy, and communication | 1 | X | ||||||||
| Twinning of National Ozone Officers and national Energy Efficiency representatives, and capacity building to link EE with Montreal Protocol objectives | 1 | X | |||||||||
| UNIDO | Support the work of the Private Financing Advisory Network to catalyze investment in efficient cooling | 1 | X | ||||||||
| University of Oxford | Review and assess climate friendly, equitable, and productive cold chains | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Indonesia | Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) | Support to accelerate public and private finance towards cooling efficiency work in Indonesia | 3 | X | |||||||
| GIZ | Public procurement program for energy-efficient air conditioners in Indonesia | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Global Initiative Communications | Cooling Efficiency Award and roundtable discussion at Sustainable Business Awards | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Synergy Efficiency Solutions (SES) | Establish a sustainable EE market in Indonesia, focusing on clean, efficient cooling systems | 3 | X | ||||||||
| Kenya | Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP) | Support on implementation of MEPS for AC, and national cooling plan | 2 | X | X | ||||||
| Lebanon | UNDP | Support on MEPS, finance and incentives to retire old equipment, and service training and manual | 1 & 2 | X | X | X | X | ||||
| Mexico | Iniciativa Climatica de Mexico (ICM) | Support on MEPS design and national cooling plan | 2 | X | |||||||
| Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) | Technical support on designing MEPS for mini split AC and commercial AC | 2 | X | ||||||||
| UNDP | Support to refrigerator manufacturers to improve EE during the F-gas transition | 1 | X | ||||||||
| UNIDO | Pilot project for the substitution of old refrigerators to new, efficient appliances | 2 | X | ||||||||
| Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Brazil | MGM Innova | Demonstration cooling projects across several sectors in the Latin America and Caribbean region | 3 | X | |||||||
| Micronesia | College of the Federated States of Micronesia | Energy security and climate action in the Federated States of Micronesia | 2 | X | |||||||
| Morocco, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, among others | Sustainable Development Capital LLP (SDCL) | Deliver clean, efficient cooling improvements in industrial and commercial operations of global companies, via cooling as a service | 3 | X | |||||||
| Nigeria | UNDP | Integrating EE into the RAC servicing sector transforming the market of inefficient RAC equipment | 1 & 2 | X | X | ||||||
| Pacific Islands, including Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu | International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC) | Pacific Islands champions demo funds | 2 | X | X | ||||||
| Palau and Cook Islands | International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC) | Supporting MEPS and financial mechanisms for EE and climate-friendly cooling in the Pacific | 2 | X | X | ||||||
| Philippines | UNDP | For continued support to increase energy efficiency capacity in the Philippines | 1 | ||||||||
| Rwanda | UN Environment | Supporting an integrated policy approach for EE climate-friendly cooling: National cooling plan, MEPS and labeling, financial mechanism | 2 | X | X | X | |||||
| South Africa | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) | MEPS for AC and supporting capacity for testing | 2 | X | X | ||||||
| Tanzania, Kenya, China | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) | Food cold chain solutions - focus on fishing sector | 4 | X | |||||||
| Thailand, Vietnam | The World Bank | Strategy support: National cooling plans, market assessment, industrial capacity building and AC MEPS | 1 & 2 | X | X | X | X | ||||
| Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP) | Build regional compliance capacity across ASEAN, provide technical analysis on MEPS | 1 & 2 | X | X | X | X | |||||
| Various, including Panama, Jordan | The World Bank | Establishment of an Efficient Clean Cooling Program at the World Bank | 3 | X | |||||||
