Context

• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) recently in New Delhi.
• ICAP provides an integrated vision towards cooling across sectors encompassing inter alia reduction of cooling demand, refrigerant transition, enhancing energy efficiency and better technology options with a 20-year time horizon.

About

The India Cooling Action seeks to:

• Reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38.
• Reduce refrigerant demand by 25% to 30% by 2037-38.
• Reduce cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38.
• Recognize "cooling and related areas" as a thrust area of research under the national S&T Programme.
• Training and certification of 100,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23, synergizing with Skill India Mission. These actions will have significant climate benefits.

Socio-economic benefits:

• Thermal comfort for all - provision for cooling for EWS and LIG housing.
• Sustainable cooling - low GHG emissions related to cooling
• Doubling Farmers Income - better cold chain infrastructure - better value of products 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's
• Robust R&D on alternative cooling technologies - to provide the push to innovation in a cooling sector.
• Cooling is also linked to human health and productivity.
• Linkages of cooling with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are well acknowledged.
• The cross-sectoral nature of cooling and its use in the development of the economy makes provision for cooling an important developmental necessity.
• The development of ICAP has been a multi-stakeholder inclusive process encompassing different Government Ministries/Departments/Organizations, Industry and Industry Associations, Think tanks, Academic and R&D institutions.