Exploring Green Cooling Technologies to Accelerate Sector Transformation

A recent international study tour brought participants from Costa Rica, Grenada and the Philippines to Germany to explore the latest environmentally friendly cooling technologies at Chillventa – one of the world’s leading exhibitions for refrigeration technology.

Taking a look beyond the horizon, exploring what is technically feasible is key, when it comes to accelerating the shift to Green Cooling. This is why the project Cool Contributions Fighting Climate Change (C4) II invited their partners to the Study Trip Chillventa 2024.  

Ten partners, among them representatives from Costa Rica and Grenada, followed the invitation and arrived in Germany on 7 October. The program started with an intensive day-long workshop at the GIZ headquarter in Eschborn. In this session, participants shared their experiences, "lessons learnt", and highlighted key achievements and challenges of the project activities. This workshop fostered knowledge exchange and provided an opportunity to learn from each other's successes and challenges.

New trends in green cooling technologies

Following the workshop, the group traveled to Nuremberg to attend "Chillventa" – one of the world's leading exhibitions for refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pump technologies. Here, the participants spent several days gaining a broader perspective: they explored the latest trends and advancements in cooling technologies, with a special focus on natural refrigerants. They established valuable contacts with manufacturers, industry experts, and research institutions also committed to sustainable cooling technologies. For example, many exhibitors introduced appliances run by the natural refrigerant propane (R290). 

Moreover, expert discussions with Daniel de Graaf from the German Environment Agency (UBA) and other experts enriched the visit. After four days at Chillventa, the participants traveled to Maintal to visit the Bundesfachschule für Kälte-Klima-Technik (BFS) to learn more about the vocational training of refrigeration technicians and to visit the training centre which regularly welcomes participants of GIZ Proklima’s Cool Training.  

Packed with a wealth of knowledge and new perspectives, the participants returned to Costa Rica, Grenada and the Philippines, eager to implement the insights and innovations in their home countries and accelerate the local transition to "Green Cooling." By adopting natural refrigerants and more efficient technologies, partner countries aim to improve energy efficiency and reduce CO₂ emissions in the long term.

The study tour was thus a crucial step in promoting international expertise in sustainable cooling technology and strengthening global cooperation for a greener future.

Cool Contributions fighting Climate Change II (C4 II) is a global project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to foster sustainable development of the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) by working towards more policy coherence between the Paris Agreement and the Montreal Protocol. The focus countries are Costa Rica, Grenada, and the Philippines. C4 II is part of the GIZ Proklima programme, which provides technical support to developing countries to implement the provisions of the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment on substances that deplete the ozone layer and affect the global climate.

Cool Contributions fighting Climate Change II (C4 II) is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection (BMUV) as part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI).