The World Bank, a Washington, D.C.-based international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries, plans to deploy US$157 million to help nine countries develop low-carbon cooling solutions, according to a post on the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) website.
This will be administered through the World Bank’s Cooling Facility, one of the world’s first multi-country financing initiatives to focus on cooling. The Cooling Facility aims to assist countries in developing the market infrastructure, funding mechanisms, policies and regulations to accelerate the deployment of affordable, efficient and low-carbon cooling.
Funding for the project will come from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a UN-based mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.
The Cooling Facility will address barriers that have so far constrained the deployment of climate-friendly cooling technologies and systems in the nine countries.
For example, El Salvador, Somalia and Sao Tome and Principe will receive assistance for “reliable and climate-friendly” vaccine cold chains as well as low-carbon cooling in health facilities.
In Malawi and Kenya, the Cooling Facility will support low-carbon and low-cost cooling in rural communities and the agricultural sector.
In Panama, Bangladesh, North Macedonia and Sri Lanka, the Cooling Facility will support energy-efficient buildings through passive and low-carbon cooling solutions.
The Cooling Facility also supports the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which establishes a global phase-down schedule for HFC production and consumption.
Financing mobilized for the Cooling Facility from the GCF is expected to leverage an additional US$722.8 million in World Bank co-financing.
Within the next ten years, the Cooling Facility is expected to prevent an estimated 9.13 million metric tons of CO2e emissions, in addition to climate mitigation and climate change resilience efforts.
Efficient Clean Cooling Program
The new Cooling Facility initiative follows the World Bank’s announcement in April of the Efficient Clean Cooling Program to accelerate the uptake of sustainable cooling solutions, including air conditioning, refrigeration and cold chain in developing countries. The program is designed to provide technical assistance to ensure that efficient cooling is included in new World Bank Group investment projects and to mobilize further financing.
Led by ESMAP and the World Bank’s Climate Change Group, the Efficient, Clean Cooling Program is funded by a $3 million grant from the Clean Cooling Collaborative (previously called the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program, or K-CEP), a philanthropic initiative established to help countries increase the energy efficiency of cooling.
Also in April, the World Bank launched its Climate Change Action plan (CCAP), which commits to increasing the World Bank’s climate finance target to 35% of total commitments over the next five years.
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