COP28 pledge to curb cooling emissions backed by 63 countries

The United States, Canada and Kenya were among 63 countries to join a pledge on Tuesday to deeply cut cooling-related emissions at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai.

The Global Cooling Pledge marks the world's first collective focus on climate-warming emissions from cooling, which includes refrigeration for food and medicine and air conditioning.

It commits countries to reduce by 2050 their cooling-related emissions by at least 68 percent compared to 2022 levels, along with a suite of other targets including establishing minimum energy performance standards by 2030.

"We want to lay out a pathway to reduce cooling-related emissions across all sectors but increase access to sustainable cooling," U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told COP28.

Some 1.2 billion people who need cooling still lack access. Installed capacity is set to triple by mid-century, driven by climbing temperatures, growing populations and rising incomes.

"Imagine a slum community, an informal settlement, the housing made of corrugated iron, and on the side an air conditioner," Freetown mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr of Sierra Leone told a COP28 news conference.

"The aspiration of everyone as temperatures rise and incomes rise is that their wealth is measured by their cooling."

But all those extra air-conditioning applications double down on the climate crisis, with cooling emissions expected to reach between 4.4 billion and 6.1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2050, according to a report by a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) coalition, which also developed the pledge alongside the COP28 UAE presidency.

Nearly three-quarters of the potential for reducing cooling emissions by mid-century can be found in the world's 20 largest economies (G20), according to the UNEP report.

"The countries who are signing up ... they are now really taking action and working with industry in order to deploy sustainable solutions," said Jurgen Fischer, president of climate solutions at Danish multinational Danfoss which specializes in heating and cooling.

At least 118 countries are also supporting another COP28 pledge to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency rates by 2030.

Progress on meeting the aims of the cooling pledge will be tracked on an annual basis until 2030, with check-ins at the yearly U.N. climate summits.

(Cover image via CFP)