Cooling Programme for Southern Africa

The first regional workshop of the IKI-funded programme took place in Botswana.

In September 2023, focal points of climate change, ozone and energy departments from national ministries of Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia and South Africa – meaning three focal points per country – met to discuss with GIZ and GFA Consulting Group the status quo and way forward of the Cooling Programme for Southern Africa (CooPSA), which is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI). 

This was the first regional workshop to be held in the context of the IKI project after national working group meetings took place in all four partner countries in 2022 (Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia) and at the beginning of 2023 (South Africa). The Government of Botswana hosted the workshop.

The Cooling Programme for Southern Africa is conceived as Article 6 of the Paris Agreement Pilot Project and aims to facilitate direct and indirect emission reductions through the promotion of Green Air Conditioners (ACs) meaning highly energy efficient ACs using natural refrigerants. 

In addition to the reduction of emissions, it aims to provide co-benefits such as creating new skilled jobs and to facilitate the market penetration of natural refrigerants in developing and emerging countries.

The workshop started with an introduction to and presentation of the current status of Article 6 and Voluntary Carbon Markets. The status quo of Article 6 frameworks and processes was outlined and barriers to the use of carbon finance and possible support options discussed. During the two workshop days, participants discussed approaches for accounting of direct and indirect emissions under a business-as-usual scenario and under a mitigation scenario for all four partner countries. They also discussed approaches for implementing the integrated financing instrument for the AC replacement programme. Life cycle analyses were presented and the importance of regulating the cooling sector discussed. Besides this, the workshop included insights and discussion of the current development status of the Green AC training programme and Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS). 

Finally, next steps for this IKI project were discussed with the participants and will be incorporated into further processes. The workshop benefited from lively discussions that looked at the programme from different angles. A total of 25 participants attended the workshop in Botswana. The project will now move from the design to the implementation phase.