India's accelerating population growth, urbanisation, and rising incomes will substantially increase cooling demand across the nation. This surge, compounded by escalating temperatures and more frequent heat stress events, makes cooling a necessity rather than a luxury. However, addressing this demand poses a significant challenge: without strategic interventions, the cooling sector, comprising space cooling and agricultural cold-chain, could intensify the climate crisis.
ICAP projections indicate that India's refrigerant-based annual cooling demand will increase ninefold by 2038, with electricity consumption for cooling expected to quadruple within the next two decades. Such unrestrained demand risks overburdening power grids, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and perpetuating a harmful cycle where carbon-intensive cooling exacerbates rising temperatures.
Nonetheless, India’s latent cooling demand offers a strategic opportunity to balance its competing priorities – economic development and environmental sustainability. This requires addressing existing gaps in policy, regulatory frameworks, technology adoption, and market mechanisms. A comprehensive approach – emphasising energy efficiency, deploying non-refrigerant cooling technologies, and stringent enforcement of performance standards – is required. By advancing sustainable cooling solutions and enhancing cold-chain infrastructure, India can ensure thermal comfort, improve farmer livelihoods, and mitigate environmental impacts effectively.
Our Objective
Advance sustainable space cooling and refrigeration for thermal comfort and food security
Strategic Focus Areas
- Support the development and implementation of policies aligned with the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP)
- Facilitate technical assistance, innovative business models, financing mechanisms, and public-private partnerships for the deployment and scaling of sustainable space cooling and cold-chain infrastructure
- Advance research and innovation to promote the adoption of energy-efficient and low-carbon cooling technologies
- Foster awareness, capacity-building, and behavioural shifts among stakeholders, promoting sustainable cooling practices across sectors
Flagship Programmes
EE Cool Project on District Cooling Systems
Energy Efficient Cooling (EE-Cool) is a bilateral project being carried out by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), International Climate Initiative (IKI) and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India. The project supports the BEE and the Ozone Cell, MoEFCC, in the implementation of the ICAP with regard to energy-efficient District Cooling Systems (DCS). AEEE supports the project as the PMU for all the major research and knowledge outputs. The project focuses on removing the identified barriers and developing techno-economic viable solutions and innovative business models to successfully implement DCS in India.
India Cooling Coalition
India Cooling Coalition (ICC) is a multi-stakeholder group of organisations led by representation from non-profits, academic and research institutions, and industry associations engaged extensively in sustainable cooling research and application. It provides a national non-governmental platform for dialogue with various national and international stakeholders and jointly recommends policy initiatives to ensure the success of government programs on sustainable cities and infrastructure, cold-chain, and the refrigeration servicing sector while ensuring affordable and sustainable cooling for all.
Supporting Affordable Heat Action for Resilient Academic Institutions
AEEE’s Supporting Affordable Heat Action for Resilient Academic Institutions (SAHARA) programme is dedicated to mainstreaming super energy-efficient and sustainable cooling solutions in Indian educational institutions. The programme aims to bring a systemic shift in perceptions and awareness while prioritising enhanced thermal comfort for a billion lives. Under this program, AEEE has developed a deep understanding of the current educational landscape and established connections with key institutional stakeholders, leveraging its technical expertise and comprehensive knowledge of energy-efficient cooling solutions.
Scaling-up Investment in Clean and Efficient Cold-Chain in India
To support the ICAP implementation, the UN Environment Programme and AEEE are implementing this project from 2021 until 2025. The project encompasses four strategic areas of technical assistance to the Government of India and state governments, namely 1) Policies, 2) Capacity Building, 3) Project Planning and Preparation, and 4) Finance and Business Models.
Improving Rural Livelihoods Through Energy-Efficient and Renewable Powered Cold Chain
Supported by the Good Energies Foundation, the project aims to reduce food loss by advancing efficient cold-chain infrastructure, supporting the Indian government’s goal to double farmers’ income. It promotes the ICAP 2019 recommendations by adopting low-cost, energy-efficient refrigeration technologies and providing training to technicians, farmers, and stakeholders. Additionally, the project seeks to develop the ecosystem for rural cooling solutions, collaborating with companies offering passive cooling, renewable energy, and low-GWP refrigerants.
Sheetgrih Shashaktikaran aur Naveenikaran ki Pehel
The Sankalp project focuses on modernising outdated cold storage facilities in Uttar Pradesh to enhance energy efficiency and reduce food loss. By upgrading refrigeration systems, improving building thermal performance, and integrating renewable energy, Sankalp aims to significantly lower energy consumption and operational costs in the state’s cold stores. The initiative targets reducing greenhouse gas emissions and food loss while promoting post-harvest management practices.
Global Cooling Efficiency Accelerator
AEEE is part of the Global Cooling Efficiency Accelerator, a philanthropic initiative formed by the Clean Cooling Collaborative with the goal of enabling the right market conditions for the development and commercialisation of super-efficient ACs. This coalition also comprises RMI, CEPT University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Global Cooling Efficiency Program, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
