Based on studies of the cooling intensity of trees in an urban environment, the temperature reductions achieved could range from 0.4° C to 3.0° C. [4] More cooling may be achieved with a higher density of the proposed green space. Once complete, the Urban Forest and Nature Conservancy Park is expected to serve up to 172,824 people who can access the green space within a 15-minute walk. [5]

This nature-based initiative was made possible by the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP). The MCAP includes a priority action track to ‘increase vegetation cover and permeable surface to 30-40 percent of the city surface area by 2030 to tackle flood- and heat-related disaster risk’ with sub-actions that include developing low-cost nature-based solutions to reduce heat stress in low-income neighborhoods and an increased budget allocation for urban green development and maintenance to tackle heat. Furthermore, India is establishing nationwide strong nature-based solution networks for the peer-to-peer exchange of best practices, technical training and knowledge sharing, such as the India Forum for Nature-based Solutions. 

Mumbai is demonstrating that evidence-based policymaking, sub-government actions and practice-based change can help reduce the impact of excess heat on its citizens through nature-based solutions.

Notes and references

[1] Grover, Aakriti & Singh, RB. (2016). Monitoring Spatial Patterns of Land Surface Temperature and Urban Heat Island for Sustainable Megacity: A Case Study of Mumbai, India Using Landsat TM Data. Environment and Urbanization Asia. 7. 38-54. 10.1177/0975425315619722.
[2] https://www.knocksense.com/mumbai/bmc-to-develop-urban-forest-in-marol-industrial-area-to-reduce-heat-island-effect-in-the-region
 [3] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wri-india_worldenvironmentday-worldenvironmentday-activity-7072092710051938306-L4py/?originalSubdomain=in
[4] Planting Healthy Air: A global analysis of the role of urban trees in addressing particulate matter pollution and extreme heat. The Nature Conservancy (2016)
[5] SEforAll analysis using catchment for locations within a 15-minute walk captured from https://app.traveltime.com. Estimated population taken from https://www.freemaptools.com/find-population.htm using 0.9 km radius catchment.

Cool roofs are a strategic component of India’s response to increased temperatures. Cities like Ahmedabad are including cool roofs in Heat Action Plans and Monsoon Action Plans, providing a model for other communities to follow.  

To date, around 28,000 energy audits have been undertaken in slum communities, which have saved families over USD 700,000 per year in electricity costs. This support has included the installation of over 200 modular roofs and 500 roofs with solar-reflective white paint. In addition, this has also led to a reduction of 105 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, CO2e, per year. 

The Climate Saathis project is an excellent example of how grassroots-level initiatives can significantly impact climate change mitigation. The project recognizes the important role that women can play in building climate resilience and improving the lives of those living in informal settlements. It also provides a model for other communities to follow. 

Current global status 

Since the inception of the Kigali Amendment, the need for holistic and synergistic actions on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Kigali Amendment targets has been witnessed globally. National Cooling Action Plans (NCAPs), a global policy best practice, have gained prominence among countries beginning to develop long-term policy strategies. Starting in 2018 several countries opted to develop an NCAP with technical support from specialized agencies and address the cross-cutting nature of cooling, to bring stakeholders from government, industry and academia to the table, discuss needs and possible solutions, and translate this into a document that would provide a roadmap for action. 

To accelerate global efforts, in 2020 the Cool Coalition brought together several of these NCAP pioneers and members and developed a guiding framework and holistic but modular methodology for the development of NCAPs that cover cooling comprehensively, including various sectors and end uses, and both met and unmet cooling needs. Currently, over 30 NCAPs are at various stages of development. Several countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia and Pakistan, are piloting the Cool Coalition methodology to develop their plans, and others have leveraged the methodology to strengthen their ongoing work.   

Cool Coalition together with its partners organized a series of workshops between June and September 2021 to launch the NCAP Methodology, capture experiences and lessons learned from leading countries, and build capacity among national policymakers and stakeholders on developing and implementing NCAPs in various regions of the world. Some examples are:  

India: The India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) was among the first NCAPs launched in March 2019, developed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The ICAP presents a 20-year outlook on how cooling demand in India will evolve in priority-demand sectors, and outlines strategies and actions that promote sustainable and smart cooling practices across the nation while mitigating adverse impacts. This landmark policy document demonstrates unprecedented inter-ministerial and cross-sectoral collaboration in identifying ambitious goals and laying out actionable pathways.

The government has established an implementation framework through inter-ministerial and cross-sectoral working groups by aligning the plan with sectoral priorities and existing policy frameworks. Multilateral development organizations and financial institutions are increasingly viewing cooling through the ICAP as an investment opportunity, and the World Bank Group has conducted a study to operationalize the implementation of the ICAP through multilateral investments. 

Panama: Unlike most NCAPs, Panama’s NCAP falls under the Ministry of Health. The Panama Cooling Plan (PCP) was developed by three key government entities on cooling: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Environment and the National Secretariat of Energy and was supported by the UNDP. The PCP emphasizes the sustainability of the transition process and the importance of the participation of the private sector and the general public, and places special emphasis on women and the needs of the most vulnerable. The plan is helping the government to align policies and programmes, identify synergies related to climate change, environment and health, and transition to climate-friendly refrigerants.  

Rwanda: Rwanda was a pioneer in the development of its NCAP four years ago and now has ambitious cooling targets to reduce GHG emissions to 38 percent, rigorous energy-efficiency regulations and, together with the UK government, is developing the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain (ACES). Its main objective is to address the complex and cross-cutting nature of climate-friendly cooling and incorporate the agriculture, health, industry, and building and construction sectors, both public and private. The NCAP serves as a call to sustained action with strategies that can be built upon over time. It is continuously strengthened and has a built-in ecosystem of multi-sector collaboration. Rwanda has a long-term vision to expand and collaborate regionally and internationally and is developing funding schemes to create access to sustainable cooling solutions and products.  

Cambodia: The Government of Cambodia through the Ministry of Environment’s National Ozone Unit and its Department on Climate Change, and in collaboration with six other ministries, has prepared a comprehensive NCAP in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Cool Coalition and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). It has included comprehensive cooling measures in its updated NDC and is now working towards the integration of passive cooling into its green building guidelines.

The aim of the NCAP is to build upon the existing work on the hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) phaseout and forthcoming Kigali Amendment implementation plans to integrate energy-efficiency and demand-reduction measures and in doing so accelerate refrigerant transition and maximize GHG emission reduction benefits. The development of the NCAP has helped the Government of Cambodia unify information on multiple cooling sectors, analyze potential economic, energy and GHG savings and identify pathways to integrate comprehensive action to address its current and future cooling demands. 

Way forward and call for action 

NCAPs have been recognized by countries, partners, the Technical and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) and the UN alike as key to linking efficiency and the refrigerant transition and maximizing climate benefits.  

NCAPs are an important first step to establish frameworks and catalyze integrated and comprehensive action on cooling and cold chains. They can be used as a long-term strategy to achieve NDC targets and develop and deploy Kigali Amendment implementation plans. NCAPs have also helped countries attract finance for implementation.   

However, the development of NCAPs requires resources. To date, these resources have been largely provided by the Clean Cooling Collaborative (formerly the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP)). Green Climate Funds (GCF) has indicated that countries can request its readiness funds to develop NCAPs, and several other development banks have also signalled their interest in supporting countries.

The Cool Coalition finance working group will also explore opportunities to support member countries who express an interest in developing NCAPs. However, given the importance of NCAPs in accelerating the refrigerant transition, it is hoped that funds could also be made available under the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol (MLF).  

Meet our Global Panel on Access to Cooling member from the Cool Coalition

India’s Ozone Cell of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), has developed a plan to harmonize the energy efficiency of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment with refrigerant transition pathways for enhanced climate action (as agreed in the 29th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol). Launched in March 2019, the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) is the first-of-its-kind initiative of its scale in the cooling sector to be taken by any country globally that underscores the urgency of proactively and collaboratively addressing cooling growth. It strikes a balanced approach to goal-setting by establishing high-level nationwide targets while allowing line ministries flexibility in setting their own targets within a directional framework of recommendations.

ICAP’s high-level goals are:

• reduction of cooling demand across sectors by 20–25 percent
• reduction of refrigerant demand by 25–30 percent,
• reduction of cooling energy requirements by 25–40 percent, all by 2037–38
• training and certification of 100,000 service technicians by 2022–23
• recognizing cooling and related areas as a focus area of research under the national science and technology programme.

The Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) was closely involved in the ICAP development process from inception to completion. AEEE led two of the seven working groups established for sector-specific analysis (space cooling in buildings and the food cold chain), supported the Ozone Cell in synthesizing and integrating the working-group outputs into a cohesive ICAP report, and provided strategic guidance in the Steering and the Inter-ministerial Committees.  

AEEE’s key lessons and takeaways from the ICAP development process 

It has been just over three years since the launch of the ICAP. Programmes and initiatives are already underway to advance the Plan, despite a slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AEEE is supporting the operationalization of ICAP through multiple avenues: as part of the Implementation Steering Committee established by the Ozone Cell, as part of the India Cooling Coalition and directly through a multi-year programme to implement ICAP recommendations.

One limitation of the ICAP development process was not including macroeconomic modelling to evaluate the impact of cooling on emissions. Incorporating such a modelling exercise would make the analytical outcomes more robust and is considered a future area of improvement. In parallel, the ongoing collaboration and alignment between the MoEF&CC and other line ministries to help effectively execute the ICAP is important. 

ICAP has placed India on the international radar and garnered significant interest in supporting global momentum for the creation of National Cooling Action Plans (NCAPs). The ICAP experience has been influential in guiding the ‘global’ NCAP Methodology developed by AEEE under the leadership of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Economic and Social Commission (UNESCAP) and supported by the Cool Coalition’s NCAP Working Group.

Beyond the direct application for cooling action plans in other countries, the ICAP lessons are relevant to environmental and climate-related policymaking in key areas such as sustainable urban development, greenhouse gas (GHG) net-zero pathways for cities or regions, low-climate impact mobility solutions, including the transition to electric vehicles, and waste management. 

Overall, the integration of IW in sustainable cold chains is promising but requires context-specific evaluation. The study in West Bengal is expected to inform the financing of ‘greener’ vessels with energy-efficient cooling technologies that can have significant climate benefits. However, the refrigerant market is underdeveloped in India and West Bengal. Some cold chain facilities operate using R22 or R404A, which are higher Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants. R22 will be banned from use in India in 2030.

Reaping climate and economic benefits  

However, while refrigerants such as R717 with low GWP would be preferable, it is prohibited in the KMA following the 2011 ammonia gas leaks that had detrimental health and safety impacts. In addition, the initial findings of the assessment of the three pilot models (for potatoes, Tetra Pak milk and fisheries) noted that the longer travel time needed by IW may not be well suited for certain temperature-sensitive goods. Based on these results, by 2025 these barriers will need to be addressed to effectively divert temperature-sensitive goods to IW and reap the associated climate and economic benefits.

Meet our Global Panel on Access to Cooling member from the World Bank Group

Applied in agricultural cold chains, CaaS enables access to cooling for small- and medium-scale farms, increasing the quality and value of food, and reducing waste. Every year, farmers in India incur nearly USD 12,520 million in post-harvest losses due to inadequate storage facilities and a lack of energy infrastructure. 25 to 35 percent of cultivated food is wasted due to a lack of proper refrigeration and other supply chain bottlenecks, and only 6 percent of the food produced in India currently moves through the cold chain. To make matters worse, information asymmetry and the lack of quality consciousness, crucial for setting the price of crops, lower farmers’ ability to monetize on their produce and earn proportionately to their original investment. Many other countries face similar problems.

To address these problems, BASE and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Sciences and Technology (Empa) came together under the data.org global innovation challenge to launch the Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant (Your VCCA) initiative in India, which was later expanded to Nigeria with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Your VCCA enables smallholder farmers to access cold storage by paying per crate per day and to leverage market intelligence via an open-access, data-driven mobile application.

Cold storage providers in India and Nigeria are adopting the app to digitize key processes, such as introducing a digital inventory, which can help operationalize CaaS. Through these processes, the app provides users with post-harvest expertise to predict the shelf life of produce in storage rooms, equipping farmers with the information and technical support required to secure the best possible price for their produce.

Partners in India include Coolcrop, Oorja and Koel Fresh, while in Nigeria the project’s first partner is ColdHubs. In order to support the effective rollout of CaaS in the agricultural sector, BASE and Empa have also designed a multi-layer interactive web map by collating and visualizing different raster and vector data layers related to India’s fresh produce supply chain to help stakeholders understand the potential for sustainable cooling solutions across the country. This is an example of how innovative business models can be combined with leveraging data-driven techniques to transform the agriculture sector and strengthen agri-food systems and supply chains. 

By gaining access to cooling facilities and market intelligence, it is possible to improve food security, increase smallholders’ income, and reduce food loss, while mitigating the impact of cooling on the environment. Currently, CaaS is being implemented in India and in Nigeria, benefitting over 500 farmers. It is already gaining significant traction and since it will be made available through open source, its adoption can be scaled up well beyond the pilot regions and countries. The innovative components of the mobile app can also be integrated into existing digital solutions to facilitate its adoption and secure a wider impact.

A large rollout of CaaS by 2025 would translate into its widescale adoption in the agricultural supply chain and improved access to market intelligence to those who need it most, reducing food loss and increasing smallholder income around the world while limiting the impact of agriculture and cold storage on the climate through the use of sustainable technology.

Meet our Global Panel on Access to Cooling member from BASE