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Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

09/12/23 13:34 PM IST

Global Cooling Pledge at COP28

In News 
  • Sixty-three countries, including the US, Canada, and Kenya, signed up to the world’s first-ever pledge to drastically cut cooling emissions at the ongoing COP28 climate summit.
Global Cooling Pledge 
  • The Global Cooling Pledge commits the countries to reduce their cooling emissions by at least 68% by 2050 and outlines several strategies to tackle them.
  • These kinds of emissions now account for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are expected to triple by 2050.
  • The situation is set to get worse as rising global temperatures will lead to a large-scale cooling demand — the use of more ACs and refrigerators would cause more cooling emissions.
Cooling Emissions 
  • Cooling emissions are essentially emissions generated from refrigerants, used in appliances like ACs and refrigerators, and the energy used for cooling.
  • Coolants allow the refrigeration process to work due to their ability to quickly change their state.
  • As they readily absorb heat from the environment, refrigerants turn from being a cool liquid into a gas.
  • When they release that heat into the outside — it could be outside a building (in case of ACs) or outside a fridge — they transform back into liquid form and then are cycled back to start the cooling process again.
  • For the longest time, most of the cooling appliances used chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as refrigerants.
  • However, in 1985, scientists published a research paper, suggesting that increased levels of CFCs in the atmosphere were responsible for abnormally low ozone concentrations in Antarctica.
  • This led to the 1987 Montreal Protocol — an agreement signed by nearly 200 countries to freeze the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances, including CFCs, at then current rates.
CFCs 
  • CFCs were largely replaced by two groups of chemicals, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), but they presented a new problem.
  • Although HFCs and HCFCs don’t damage the ozone layer, they are powerful greenhouse gases — both of them can absorb infrared radiation, trapping heat inside the atmosphere rather than letting it escape back into space, generating a greenhouse effect that warms Earth. Notably, CFCs are also potent global warming gases.
  • Even in relatively small amounts they (HFCs) contribute significantly to near-term warming as greenhouse gases which are hundreds to thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) per unit of mass.
  • For instance, HFC-134a, a form of HFC and most commonly used in domestic fridges, has a global warming potential of 3,400 times that of CO2.
  • A typical fridge can contain between 0.05 kg and 0.25 kg of refrigerant, which if it leaks into the environment, the resulting emissions would be equivalent to driving 675km-3,427km (420-2,130 miles) in an average family-sized car.
  • HFC and HCFCs are released from damaged appliances or from car air conditioning systems. Ninety per cent of the refrigerant emissions occur at the equipment’s end of life and are disposed of improperly.
  • The other source of cooling emissions is the electricity used to run the cooling appliances. A large section of this electricity is produced by fossil fuels across the world, especially in developing countries like India.
  • Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas are by far the largest contributor to climate change, accounting for over 75% of greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all CO2 emissions.
  • Since 1990, the energy consumption for space cooling (the process of cooling indoors) has more than tripled, a recent International Energy Agency (IEA) report said. It added that last year, the consumption further increased by more than 5% from 2021. 
OTHER FINDINGS
  • As global warming worsens, the demand for cooling will increase dramatically, which will create more warming in a destructive feedback loop.
  • The greatest cooling demand will arise in Africa and Asia, where more than 1 billion people are at high risk from extreme heat due to a lack of cooling access.
  • The number of global cooling devices is expected to jump from 3.6 billion to 9.5 billion by 2050, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the IEA.
  • And if cooling is provided to everyone who needs it, and not just who can afford it, there is a need for 14 billion devices by 2050, the report added.
Way Forward
  • Countries are already cognizant of the harmful impact of HCFs.
  • In 2016, over 150 countries signed the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, agreeing to reduce HFC consumption by 80% by 2047. If achieved, this could avoid more than 0.4 degree Celsius of global warming by 2100.
  • The phasing-out of HFCs involves promoting the use of climate-friendly chemicals, also called natural refrigerants, such as ammonia, certain hydrocarbons, and CO2 in cooling devices. These chemicals have lower or zero global warming potential.
  • Moreover, as most of the HFCs and HCFCs take place at the appliance’s end of life, consumers and authorities need to dispose of them properly. “Proper management and reuse of potent refrigerant gases could slash 100 billion gigatons of global CO2 emissions between 2020 and 2050,
  • There is also a need to focus on ways to cool buildings without air conditioners. Improving insulation materials and constructing buildings with large openings for better ventilation can help reduce heat inside.
Source- Indian Express

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