Raising ambition in NDCs through holistic mitigation approaches in the cooling sector

Refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) is vital for human well-being, for example, to prevent food loss and guarantee supply with medical care with functioning cold chains and alleviate heat stress through space cooling. The positive effects of cooling, however, come with a downside. The RAC sector is responsible for a considerable amount of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – from refrigerant use (direct emissions) and the operation of the equipment with fossil-fuel based energy sources (indirect emissions).

As countries strive towards mitigating climate change, more than half of the countries that developed an updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) have recognised the relevance of the refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) sector and included hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in the scope of gases covered. However, most NDCs lack concrete actions and implementation strategies for the RAC sector.

In response to this gap, the guideline “Raising ambition in NDCs through holistic mitigation approaches in the cooling sector”, now also available in Spanish, intends to provide political decision-makers with a step-by-step guidance on how to integrate and appropriately cover the cooling sector in an NDC. Moreover, it offers benchmarks to gauge the ambition level of actions targeting direct and indirect emissions of the RAC sector.

The guideline is complemented by the “Quick self-analysis to evaluate cooling sector-related targets and measures included in NDCs”, which is also available in Spanish. This tool, presented in a user-friendly question-and-answer format, enables policymakers to assess the ambition level of different cooling-sector related targets and measures within their country’s NDC.

- Link to Spanish and English version

Expert Guidance Available

For country representatives seeking further assistance in integrating the cooling sector into their NDCs, expert guidance is available through the NDC Helpdesk for the cooling sector. We invite all interested parties to reach out and leverage this resource to enhance their NDCs and contribute to climate action in the cooling sector.

The Guideline is a publication by GIZ Proklima and the global projects Climate and Ozone Protection Alliance (COPA) supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), Cool Contributions fighting Climate Change (C4 II), and Green Cooling Initiative (GCI) III, both supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV). All of these project are supported as part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI).