Enhancing Production of Affordable Cooling Devices

• Context (PIB): The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, partnered with the World Bank to host a successful workshop on “Alleviating Heat Stress by Enhancing Production of Affordable Cooling Devices (AHEAD).“
• The Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF&CC) and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) supported the initiative.

Significance of Affordable Cooling Devices Production

• Rising demand: Increased global warming, the growing Indian economy, and increased purchase power will likely increase overall cooling demand by 10 times in the next two decades.
• Safeguard GDP: Cooling interventions have the potential to save approximately 4.5% of GDP, nearly 329 billion USD, at risk by 2030 due to heatwaves.
• Protect agricultural produce: The existing cold chain for agricultural produce meets only 4% of the total requirement.
• Save foreign exchange: India spent nearly a billion USD in 2022-23 foreign exchange on importing cooling device components.
• Help achieve India Cooling Action Plan target: The plan announced in 2019 to address the cooling emissions aims to reduce power consumption for cooling across sectors by 20-25% by 2038.
• Uphold India’s commitment: It will show that India earnestly wants to reduce cooling emissions despite not being a part of the Global Cooling Pledge.

Way Ahead for Affordable Cooling Devices Production

• Focus on overcoming domestic manufacturing challenges.
• Exploring innovative policy and financing strategies.
• Position India as a Global Manufacturing Hub for sustainable and affordable cooling technologies.
• R&D for production of higher quality & cost-effective cooling devices.