In a significant win for climate action and air quality, several countries attending the G7 meeting in Biarritz, France, pledged to take immediate steps to improve energy efficiency in the cooling sector while phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)— commonly used refrigerants that have a global warming potential thousands of times that of carbon dioxide.
The Biarritz Pledge for Fast Action on Efficient Cooling aims to transform the global cooling sector and lower emissions by coordinating efforts to improve the energy efficiency of air conditioners and other cooling equipment, in parallel to the phase down of HFCs, thus maximizing the climate benefits of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. The energy savings are significant. A 30 per cent improvement in the energy efficiency of room air conditioners can save enough energy to avoid building up to 2,500 500MW peak power plants by 2050.
With this pledge, countries agree to undertake ambitious measures such as the development of national cooling plans, the use of energy performance standards (MEPS) and labelling, the promotion of the use of good servicing practices, the use of state’s bulk purchasing power and relevant measures, to facilitate market access for highly efficient and affordable cooling technologies with low-or-zero global warming potential, to encourage private sector involvement, and to call on support from financial institutions and funds to mobilize additional funding for activities beyond those covered by the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendment.