The Indian plan (ICAP) was launched in March 2019 by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The ICAP provides a 20-year perspective and outlines actions needed to provide access to sustainable cooling.

India is one of the first countries in the world to develop a comprehensive Cooling Action plan which has a long term vision to address the cooling requirement across sectors and lists out actions which can help reduce the cooling demand. Cooling requirement is cross sectoral and an essential part for economic growth and is required across different sectors of the economy such as residential and commercial buildings, cold-chain, refrigeration, transport, and industries.

The India Cooling Action seeks to (i) reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38, (ii) reduce refrigerant demand by 25% to 30% by 2037-38, (iii) Reduce cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38, (iv)  recognize “cooling and related areas” as a thrust area of research under national S&T Programme, (v) training and certification of 100,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23, synergizing with Skill India Mission. These actions will have significant climate benefits.

The following benefits would accrue to the society over and above the environmental benefits: (i) Thermal comfort for all – provision for cooling for EWS and LIG housing, (ii) Sustainable cooling – low GHG emissions related to cooling, (iii) Doubling Farmers Income – better cold chain infrastructure – better value of produce to farmers, less wastage of produce, (iv) Skilled workforce for better livelihoods and environmental protection, (v) Make in India – domestic manufacturing of air-conditioning and related cooling equipment’s, (vi) Robust R&D on alternative cooling technologies – to provide push to innovation in cooling sector.

Cooling is also linked to human health and productivity. Linkages of cooling with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are well acknowledged. The cross-sectoral nature of cooling and its use in development of the economy makes provision for cooling an important developmental necessity. The development of ICAP has been a multi-stakeholder inclusive process encompassing different Government.

In addition to the increased demand for cooling, another key driver for the ICAP is the Montreal Protocol and the landmark Kigali Amendment to phase down potent heat-trapping hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and integrate energy efficiency into air conditioning. HFCs—used mostly in air conditioning and refrigeration, for making insulating foams, and in some aerosol and other products—have hundreds to thousands of times the heat-trapping power (global warming potential, or GWP) of carbon dioxide. Though accounting for only 1-2% of total warming now, HFCs are the fastest growing climate pollutants because of the skyrocketing demand for air conditioning and refrigeration in developing markets such as India. Rwanda just launched its National Cooling Strategy earlier this year and 20 other countries are expected to follow under the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP) . Cooling is a major challenge as 120 countries gathered last month to discuss climate-friendly AC and refrigerator standards

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released the India Cooling Action Plan. India is one of the first countries in the world to develop a comprehensive Cooling Action plan which has a long term vision to address the cooling requirement across sectors and lists out actions which can help reduce the cooling demand.

ICAP Goals

The overarching goal of ICAP is to provide sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all while securing environmental and socio-economic benefits for the society.

The India Cooling Action seeks to

• Reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38
• Reduce refrigerant demand by 25% to 30% by 2037-38
• Reduce cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38
• Recognize “cooling and related areas” as a thrust area of research under national S&T Programme
• Training and certification of 100,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23, synergizing with Skill India Mission.

Implementation framework

Cooling requirement is cross sectoral and an essential part for economic growth and is required across different sectors of the economy such as residential and commercial buildings, cold-chain, refrigeration, transport, and industries. Cooling is also linked to human health and productivity. Linkages of cooling with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are well acknowledged. The cross-sectoral nature of cooling and its use in development of the economy makes provision for cooling an important developmental necessity.

The India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) provides an integrated vision towards cooling across sectors encompassing inter alia reduction of cooling demand, refrigerant transition, enhancing energy efficiency and better technology options with a 20-year time horizon. The thrust of the ICAP is to look for synergies in actions for securing both environmental and socio-economic benefits.

The Thematic Areas identified are as follows.

• Space Cooling in Buildings
• Cold-chain and Refrigeration
• Transport Air-conditioning
• Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Servicing Sector
• Refrigerant Demand and Indigenous Production
• R&D and Production sector – Alternative Refrigerants

The following benefits would accrue to the society over and above the environmental benefits:

• Thermal comfort for all – provision for cooling for EWS and LIG housing
• Sustainable cooling – low GHG emissions related to cooling
• Doubling Farmers Income – better cold chain infrastructure – better value of produce to farmers, less wastage of produce
• Skilled workforce for better livelihoods and environmental protection
• Make in India– domestic manufacturing of air-conditioning and related cooling equipment’s
• Robust R&D on alternative cooling technologies – to provide push to innovation in cooling sector.

With a comprehensive approach, the India Cooling Action Plan is leading on developing innovative cooling strategies that save energy, improve resilience against extreme heat, and curb climate change.