A FRAMEWORK FOR TRACKING COOLING INVESTMENT

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) proposes a standardized Cooling Investment Tracking Framework to address significant data gaps in global cooling finance. The authors argue that current datasets focus too narrowly on equipment sales and lack the transaction-level granularity needed for governments and investors to align capital with sustainable cooling needs.

• Global demand for cooling is rising rapidly, driven by population growth, rising incomes, and climate change. The global stock of air conditioners is projected to exceed 5 billion units by 2050, with annual equipment sales expected to reach 460 million units by 2030, half of which is anticipated to come from China, India, and the United States.
• Existing cooling finance data is fragmented and insufficient. Current resources often rely on equipment sales estimates or broad sectoral data, failing to capture passive cooling, policy development, or service contracts. A word search of the 2018 OECD Creditor Reporting System (CRS) database identified only USD 343 million in cooling-related commitments, a figure likely undercounting actual investment due to the lack of dedicated sectoral tags.
• The proposed Cooling Investment Tracking Framework utilizes a six-letter code-tagging system to categorize transactions across four dimensions: Cooling Orientation (the extent to which cooling is the project's purpose), Climate Orientation (whether the solution is efficient, clean, or sustainable), Solution Type (technology, services, policy, or finance), and Purpose (the sector targeted, such as health or agriculture).
• Within the Framework, 'Sustainable cooling' is specifically defined as solutions that are both 'Efficient' (complying with national minimum energy performance standards or using no energy) and 'Clean' (using refrigerants with low or no Global Warming Potential and Ozone Depletion Potential).
• Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) surveyed indicated a general willingness to adopt a standardized tracking approach, noting that identifying cooling components within large, complex investments—such as agribusiness or manufacturing projects—is currently a time-intensive manual task.

APA

Wetherbee, C., & Meattle, C. (2021). A FRAMEWORK FOR TRACKING COOLING INVESTMENT. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A-Framework-for-Tracking-Cooling-Investments.pdf

Chicago

Wetherbee, Cooper, and Chavi Meattle. A FRAMEWORK FOR TRACKING COOLING INVESTMENT. Climate Policy Initiative, 2021. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A-Framework-for-Tracking-Cooling-Investments.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Wetherbee |first1=Cooper |last2=Meattle |first2=Chavi |title=A FRAMEWORK FOR TRACKING COOLING INVESTMENT |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=February 2021 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A-Framework-for-Tracking-Cooling-Investments.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wetherbee2021framework, author = {Wetherbee, Cooper and Meattle, Chavi}, title = {{A FRAMEWORK FOR TRACKING COOLING INVESTMENT}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2021}, month = feb, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A-Framework-for-Tracking-Cooling-Investments.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }