Green Cooling Initiative: Towards Climate-friendly Cooling

“Natural refrigerants are the future, so it is important that our students learn how to handle them. This expertise increases their chances on the labour market.”, says Mercy Njuki, a trainer for refrigeration and air conditioning at The Nairobi National Polytechnic, Kenya.

The Green Cooling Initiative equipped The Polytechnic and 27 other Kenyan training institutes with tools and devices for practical training. Furthermore, the project revised curricula and supported partner countries in developing more formalised qualification, certification, and registration systems.

A skilled workforce is key to achieving a green transition in the cooling sector, because qualified technicians know how to safely handle climate-friendly natural refrigerants, how to avoid leakages, and how to enhance energy efficiency. In the third phase alone, GCI trained more than 1,700 technicians and stakeholders. One focus was on female empowerment.

GCI supported the development of national cooling strategies and the updating of standards. These lay the foundation for adapting to rising temperatures while avoiding rising emissions. The refrigeration and air conditioning sector was embedded into the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement in several partner countries, with the Seychelles’ chapter on cooling emerging as a best-practice example for others.

Numerous publications, from short brochures to in-depth reports, provide policymakers with best practice examples, guidelines, and sector specific figures. One example is a report on how to establish a sustainable and climate resilient vaccine cold chain which was elaborated in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Two flagship pilot projects demonstrated the viability of sustainable cooling in real-world settings: the climate-friendly air conditioning of a hotel in Sri Lanka, implemented in cooperation with the Jetwing Hotel Group, and an environmentally friendly fish cold store in Kenya, contributing to a decentralised and resilient food value chain. Before the cold store was built, local fishermen often had to throw away 40 to 60% of their catch because they had no way to keep the fish cool. Now, five tons of fish can be stored and kept fresh for two to three days. It is climate-friendly, cost-effective and sustainable because it is powered by solar energy, and the ice to cool the fish is made from lake water.

During GCI’s third phase, natural refrigerant technologies were demonstrated through the installation of R290 air conditioning systems in public buildings, hospitals, universities, and training institutes of several partner countries.