Sustainable cooling solutions

The report outlines a comprehensive framework for sustainable cooling, categorizing solutions into four pillars: technology, services, policy, and finance. It emphasizes that achieving 'cooling for all' requires an optimized approach to meet fundamental needs in comfort and safety, food and nutrition, and health and care, particularly for vulnerable populations. The document introduces a five-part solution approach—Protect, Reduce, Shift, Improve, and Leverage—to guide the selection of measures ranging from nature-based passive cooling to high-efficiency active technologies and regulatory policies.

• Sustainable cooling is framed around three primary needs: Comfort & Safety (covering living, learning, working, and mobility), Food & Nutrition (focusing on the agriculture cold chain and rural incomes), and Health & Care (ensuring safe medical clinics and vaccine storage).
• The document proposes a five-part solution approach to optimize cooling sustainability: 'Protect' to reduce vulnerability; 'Reduce' to lower the need for mechanical cooling; 'Shift' to change energy or refrigerant types; 'Improve' for pure energy efficiency; and 'Leverage' for collective impact through collaboration.
• Technology solutions are divided into nature-based/passive solutions, which use no operational energy or refrigerants, and active solutions, which range from fans to district cooling systems and are evaluated based on device efficiency, refrigerant type, and energy source.
• Services solutions are categorized into preparational services (education, skills development, and project services like urban planning) and operational services (direct operation, management, and maintenance).
• Policy solutions are classified into three types: Regulatory ('stick' measures like codes and standards), Information ('tambourine' measures such as labels and awareness campaigns), and Incentives ('carrot' measures, including both financial and non-financial).
• Financial solutions consist of finance (temporary use of funds to enable private investment), fiscal instruments (such as carbon taxes or the removal of energy subsidies), and funding (grants or rebates).

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2020). Sustainable cooling solutions. https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2020/sustainable-cooling-solutions

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. Sustainable cooling solutions. 2020. https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2020/sustainable-cooling-solutions.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=Sustainable cooling solutions |date=2020 |url=https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2020/sustainable-cooling-solutions |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2020sustainable, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{Sustainable cooling solutions}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2020}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2020/sustainable-cooling-solutions}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }