Sustainable Cooling Policy Toolkit
The cooling sector—including refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pumps—is essential for comfort, food preservation, healthcare, data centres, and industry. Cooling technologies control temperature and humidity and are becoming increasingly important due to climate change, urbanisation, and economic growth.
However, traditional cooling systems often use high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants and large amounts of energy, increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable cooling is therefore critical to both climate mitigation and climate adaptation. Achieving near zero emissions by mid century requires integrated policies focused on climate friendly refrigerants, high energy efficiency, and passive cooling.
Policy Areas
A balanced and rapid transition of the cooling sector requires a mix of policy instruments across the cooling value chain. This comprehensive policy toolkit, developed by the Montreal Protocol Ozone Secretariat in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme's Cool Coalition, maps policy options from manufacturing and building design to use, maintenance, and end of life management.
Refrigerant Management and Phase Down
Refrigerant policies aim to reduce the use and emissions of high GWP gases in cooling equipment.
Under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, countries are phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and transitioning to low GWP alternatives. Effective refrigerant management covers the full lifecycle—from production and servicing to recovery and destruction—so cooling needs are met with minimal climate and ozone impact.
Key policy interventions
Adopt and enforce HFC phase down schedules
Implement Kigali Amendment targets through licensing, quotas, and bans on high GWP refrigerants where feasible. Clear phase down pathways give industry certainty and prevent continued use of harmful gases.
Combat illegal trade and non compliance
Strengthen border controls, licensing systems, refrigerant tracking, and penalties to stop illegal imports and smuggling. Strong enforcement protects climate goals and ensures a fair market.
Leak prevention and mandatory maintenance
Requires leak tight equipment, regular inspections, and prompt repairs. Banning intentional venting and mandating leak detection can deliver significant climate benefits, even from small leak reductions.
Promote low GWP alternatives and update standards
Enable the uptake of refrigerants such as ammonia, CO₂, hydrocarbons, and HFOs by updating safety codes, fast tracking approvals, and offering incentives. Support R&D and demonstration projects to accelerate deployment.
Refrigerant recovery, recycling, and destruction programmes
Mandate refrigerant recovery at servicing and end of life, establish reclamation facilities, and ensure safe destruction. These programmes prevent major emissions when old equipment is scrapped.
Technician training and certification
Develop certified training programmes to ensure safe handling of refrigerants, reduce leaks, and support the transition to next generation systems.
Energy Efficiency of Cooling Equipment
Energy efficiency policies reduce electricity use and peak demand from cooling appliances while delivering the same services. Efficiency improvements span equipment design, consumer choice, maintenance, buildings, and end of life management. Well designed buildings also reduce cooling demand from the start.
Key policy interventions
Building energy codes and cooling design standards
Strengthen building codes to reduce cooling loads through insulation, shading, reflective roofs, efficient HVAC systems, and proper equipment sizing. Urban planning can promote efficient district cooling systems.
Energy labelling and consumer awareness
Introduce mandatory energy labels to guide consumers toward efficient products. Awareness campaigns and simple usage practices further improve real world efficiency.
Financial incentives and bulk procurement
Use rebates, tax credits, concessional loans, and bulk procurement to lower costs of high efficiency cooling. Utility rebates and replacement programmes reduce peak demand and accelerate market transformation.
Innovation, R&D, and technology deployment
Support research, pilots, and scale up of advanced cooling technologies. Public sector deployment can demonstrate viability and reduce costs over time.
Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS)
Set and regularly tighten MEPS for cooling appliances to eliminate inefficient products from the market. Combined with labelling and refrigerant limits, MEPS drive continuous improvement.
Cross Cutting Policies
Cross cutting policies integrate refrigerants, efficiency, and passive solutions under a single national vision. They strengthen governance, coordination, finance, data, and innovation to ensure long term success.
Key policy interventions
Capacity building, education, and outreach
Invest in skills for technicians, designers, planners, and policymakers. Public education supports behavioural change and heat resilience.
Cross government and inter agency coordination
Create formal coordination mechanisms to align policies, funding, and implementation across ministries and levels of government.
Financing mechanisms for sustainable cooling
Mobilise public and private finance through national funds, green finance facilities, incentives, and risk sharing tools to reduce upfront costs.
Mainstreaming cooling in national climate and energy plans
Integrate cooling into NDCs, energy plans, adaptation strategies, and urban policies to unlock funding and align national priorities.
Monitoring, data, and innovation ecosystems
Track appliance stocks, energy use, and refrigerant consumption to guide policy adjustments. Promote innovation through research grants and public private partnerships.
National Cooling Action Plans (NCAPs)
Develop comprehensive national strategies covering all sectors and policy levers, aligned with climate commitments and backed by high level political support.
Passive Cooling Solutions
Passive cooling reduces heat through building design, urban planning, and nature-based solutions, minimising or avoiding energy intensive air conditioning. These approaches lower energy demand, increase climate resilience, and improve urban liveability, especially where electricity access is limited.
Key policy interventions
Awareness, training, and capacity building
Train architects, builders, and planners in climate appropriate design. Public outreach and incentives increase demand for passive solutions.
Building codes, standards, and materials
Update codes to require or encourage insulation, shading, ventilation, and reflective materials, locking in lower cooling demand over the building lifecycle.
Cool roofs and cool surfaces programmes
Promote reflective roofs and pavements through mandates, rebates, and public building programmes to reduce indoor and urban temperatures.
Financial incentives and green finance
Provide grants, concessional loans, and tax benefits to support passive cooling in buildings and cities.
Passive cooling in public buildings and affordable housing
Lead by example through retrofits and new projects that prioritise passive design, improving comfort and equity.
Urban greening and nature based solutions
Expand green spaces, trees, and green roofs to cool cities naturally while delivering co benefits for air quality, biodiversity, and health.
For more information and case studies, take a more in-depth look at the sustainable cooling policy toolkit or contact Stephanie Haysmith (stephanie.haysmith@un.org), Communications and Information Officer at the Montreal Protocol Ozone Secretariat.
