India Cooling Action Plan | 09 Mar 2019

Recently, India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) is launched by Ozone Cell of Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC)

• ICAP aims to provide sustainable cooling while keeping in mind, at the same time, the need to protect the ozone layer
• It provides a 20-year perspective, with projections for cooling needs in 2037-38.

Objectives

• Assessment of cooling requirements across sectors in the next 20 years and the associated refrigerant demand and energy use,
• Map the technologies available to cater to the cooling requirement including passive interventions, refrigerant-based technologies and alternative technologies such as not-in-kind technologies,
• Suggest interventions in each sector to provide for sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all,
• Focus on skilling of Refrigeration and air-conditioning(RAC) service technicians, and
• Develop an R&D innovation ecosystem for indigenous development of alternative technologies.

Environmental and socio-economic benefits

• Thermal comfort for all – provision for cooling for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Low Income Group (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.
• Robust R&D on alternative cooling technologies – to provide a push to innovation in the cooling sector.

The plan is in sync with India’s commitment to the Montreal Protocol, 1987 (reduction of ozone-depleting substances) as well as the Paris Agreement,2015 to meet the challenges of climate change.