Heat waves & India’s Cooling Sector

In Context

• Recently, the report, “Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector” was released by the World Bank.

Report Highlights 

• Exposure to heat waves:
  • From 2030 onwards, more than 160 to 200 million people could be exposed to a lethal heat wave in India every year.
• Productivity Decline:
  • Around 34 million Indians will face job losses due to heat stress-related productivity decline. 
• Demand for cooling:
  • By 2037, the demand for cooling is likely to be eight times more than current levels, the World Bank has said in a report.
  • In this scenario, it is imperative for India to deploy alternative and innovative energy-efficient technologies for keeping spaces cool. 
• Significance of India’s Cooling Sector:
  • India’s Cooling Sector could open an investment opportunity of $1.6 trillion by 2040 besides reducing greenhouse gas emissions significantly and creating 3.7 million jobs.
  • With the demand for cooling shooting up, there will be a demand for a new air-conditioner every 15 seconds, according to the report.
    • This demand will lead to an expected rise of 435% in annual greenhouse gas emissions over the next two decades. 
  • Thus, there is a need to shift to a more energy-efficient pathway which could lead to a substantial reduction in expected CO2 levels.

Suggestions by the report

• India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) 2019:
  • The report proposes a roadmap to support India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) 2019, through new investments in three major sectors: 
    • Building construction, 
    • Cold chains and 
    • Refrigerants.
• Climate-responsive cooling techniques:
  • Adopting climate-responsive cooling techniques as a norm in both private and government-funded constructions can ensure that those at the bottom of the economic ladder are not disproportionately affected by rising temperatures. 
  • The report suggests that India’s affordable housing program for the poor, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), can adopt such changes on scale.
• Policy for district cooling:
  • It also proposed enacting a policy for district cooling which could lead to the consumption of 20-30% less power than the most efficient conventional cooling solutions. 
    • District cooling technologies generate chilled water in a central plant which is then distributed to multiple buildings via underground insulated pipes. 
    • This brings down the cost for providing cooling to individual buildings. 
  • Apart from this, guidelines for implementation of local and city-wide urban cooling measures such as cool-roofs should also be considered.
• Fixing gaps in cold chain distribution networks:
  • To minimise rising food and pharmaceutical wastage during transport due to higher temperatures, the report recommends fixing gaps in cold chain distribution networks. 
  • Investing in pre-cooling and refrigerated transport can help decrease food loss by about 76% and reduce carbon emissions by 16%.
• Lowering global warming footprint:
  • Improvements in servicing, maintenance and disposal of equipment that uses hydrochlorofluorocarbons, alongside a shift to alternative options with a lower global warming footprint, are also recommended. 
  • This can create two million jobs for trained technicians over the next two decades and reduce the demand for refrigerants by around 31%.

Way Ahead

• The right set of policy actions and public investments can help leverage large scale private investment in this sector.
• India’s cooling strategy can help save lives and livelihoods, reduce carbon emissions and simultaneously position India as a global hub for green cooling manufacturing.

Source: TH