Sustainable cooling to reduce carbon emissions

Here, experts, policy makers and development partners discussed the roadmap for the formation of a sustainable cooling system for all sectors of Vietnam, to ensure timely achievement of national goals in responding to climate change.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Pham Van Tan, Deputy Director of the Department of Climate Change shared: Realizing the importance of sustainable cooling activities, at COP28, Vietnam and more than 60 countries have just joined the Global Cooling Pledge, with the goal of contributing to reducing at least 68% of greenhouse gas emissions in the global cooling sector by 2050 compared to 2022.

Mr. Pham Van Tan, Deputy Director of the Department of Climate Change, spoke at the event.

Previously, Vietnam has set out many tasks and solutions on sustainable cooling in national strategies and plans, including the National Strategy on Climate Change for the period up to 2050 and Vietnam's updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2022. This is an opportunity to implement cooperation programs and projects with international organizations and domestic and foreign enterprises on sustainable cooling such as switching to high energy efficiency technology, using refrigerants with low global warming potential, applying passive cooling solutions, and nature-based cooling.

Regardless of the results of the Global Efforts Assessment at COP28, the above efforts will be included by Vietnam in the NDC 2 submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2025, after approval by the Vietnamese Government.

Mr. Hongpeng Liu, Director of the Energy Department, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, spoke at the event.

Moderating the discussion, Mr. Hongpeng Liu, Director of the Energy Department, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, highly appreciated Vietnam for being a pioneer in including cooling issues, as well as international commitments, in the Government's programs and action plans. The global cooling commitment was announced at COP28 and it is important for member countries to make efforts to implement this commitment in the coming time.

Ms. Lily Riahi, Coordinator of the Cooling Alliance, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said: In addition to air conditioning, the cooling sector has many important applications such as vaccine preservation, food storage, and energy efficiency in buildings. This sector consumes one-fifth of the world's electricity and demand is expected to triple by 2050. This causes a double consequence, both increasing energy consumption and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

To change this trend, UNEP and its partners have developed a comprehensive framework without causing climate change impacts. There are many things to do, such as: Reducing the amount of electricity used for cooling, moving towards greening urban areas; using energy efficiently through switching to better cooling technologies, setting standards for cooling, labeling sustainable cooling products to help consumers recognize; developing a separate financial instrument for this sector... Vietnam plays a pioneering role in implementing sustainable cooling to reduce greenhouse gases. Therefore, ministries, sectors and relevant parties need to coordinate effectively to develop a National Cooling Plan.

Mr. Ha Quang Anh, Director of the Center for Low Carbon Development, Department of Climate Change shared: The inclusion of sustainable cooling in the updated NDC 2022 for the first time shows Vietnam's progress. Through discussions with the United Nations Environment Program, we realized that the cooling sector has not been mentioned much in the contents of green growth and energy efficiency; there is a lack of specific policies on cooling and a lack of participation from the private sector. In the coming time, Vietnam will need to increase the participation of the private sector in converting new technologies related to cooling, raise awareness of this issue and concretize it into action.

Mr. John Cotton, Manager of the Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP) Program said: ETP has a secretariat that works with governments to maximize ETP activities, identify priority activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The important thing is how countries need to translate into specific actions. These efforts need to mobilize significant financial resources and need the active participation of governments and businesses. National action plans need to have a comprehensive, harmonized approach and mobilize many participants to achieve the desired results, instead of relying on individual projects.

Mr. Axel Michaelowa, an expert from Perspectives Climate Group, said that related activities promote market operations so that the purchase and sale of carbon credits can become an additional source of revenue, creating a mechanism for exchange and payment. For example, Korea has integrated the carbon market development regulations of the Paris Agreement into the National Action Plan for Emission Reduction in Cooling. In terms of resources, non-refundable grants are quite limited, it is necessary to mobilize financial resources from the credit exchange market, considered as seed capital to mobilize more resources to carry out these activities.

At the event, connecting experts, policy makers and leaders, development partners highlighted the role of creating an enabling policy environment for sustainable cooling to scale up access to clean and efficient technologies. At the same time, recommendations were made to address existing challenges and take advantage of existing opportunities.

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