3 May, 2024
New IFC Sustainable Cooling Initiative to Build on TechEmerge Success
IFC has announced the signing of a new $12.7 million Sustainable Cooling Initiative with the UK’s Department of Energy Security and Net Zero that will build on the success of the TechEmerge Sustainable Cooling Innovation program.
The new initiative will have an expanded scope of operations, focusing not only on innovative technologies but on transformative cooling systems. This includes new solutions for district cooling, space cooling, manufacturing and innovation, cold chains and temperature-controlled logistics, and finance for consumers and small and medium enterprises.
While this is a global initiative, the initial priority countries include Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Pakistan, and Turkiye.
The new initiative will help IFC deliver on the Global Cooling Pledge, one of the key outcomes of COP28. Over 60 countries have already signed up to the Pledge with commitments to reduce the climate impact of the cooling sector.
Leveraging knowledge and expertise generated by more than five years of TechEmerge sustainable cooling operations, the new IFC initiative will help countries and their private sectors to lower emissions from cooling and to take action to adapt to extreme heat.
Along with developing transformative cooling systems, the new initiative aims to enhance investment readiness through technical assistance, leverage blended finance to de-risk and scale up investment, and share knowledge and thought leadership.
TechEmerge has so far matched over 30 tech innovators with more than 40 leading local adopter companies to pilot, de-risk and scale new climate-smart cooling solutions on the ground in emerging market conditions, while building new commercial relationships.
IFC says it is also establishing collaboration with the UN Environment Programme and the Green Climate Fund with the aim of developing a private sector-focused facility to scale up technical assistance and financing on sustainable cooling.
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