UN report at COP28 charts global path to reduce cooling sector emissions

The fight against climate change has reached a deadlock, with demand for air-conditioning rising exponentially amidst rising global temperatures, thus driving global warming. The recently concluded COP28 witnessed the #GlobalCoolingPledge being backed by 60+ countries with a target of 68% reduction in predicted 2050 sectoral emissions.

Rising temperatures already impact 1.2 billion in Africa and Asia without basic cooling services, exposing them to extreme heat. As a result, heat waves claim 12,000 lives annually on a global scale, a number set to rise as the planet warms. Indian urban areas, constituting 39% of India's energy consumption, face increased cooling demands, straining energy grids amidst renewable energy transitions such as solar and wind. The need of the hour is to break this vicious cycle towards which, energy efficiency will prove to play a pivotal role.

Energy efficiency emerges as a pivotal solution, with COP28 doubling energy efficiency targets from 2% to 4%. This will have a significant impact not just on curbing the carbon emissions from the HVAC infrastructure but the energy bills of the built environment, thus making energy efficiency not only sustainable but also profitable.?

At Smart Joules, we regard energy efficiency as the first fuel, while also trying to solve pertinent challenges that the industry faces, one of which is the upfront CAPEX cost -- a major roadblock in implementing cutting-edge technologies that could catalyze the transition.?

Our deep-rooted understanding of these industry and customer-centric challenges is the reason why we introduced India's first Cooling-as-a-Service model, JouleCOOL, which is anchored around making sure we design, implement, and operate the most energy-efficient HVAC systems for the built environment of tomorrow, all the while ensuring that the customer does not bear the brunt of the CAPEX costs.?

We are poised to reduce 29 million tonnes of CO2 from the planet by 2030, and we believe CAAS models could go a long way in catalyzing this transition.