As global temperatures increase and the demand for cooling rises, so do the emission levels of greenhouse and fluorinated gases, which have a very high global warming potential. Reports cite that at 1.5°C of warming – a threshold that could be reached by 2030 - 2.3 billion people could be vulnerable to illness and death from heatwave events (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2019) and productivity loss could be the equivalent of 80 million full-time jobs (International Labor Organization, 2019). Therefore low-carbon and sustainable cooling solutions are essential.

The Cooling Facility will be one of the world’s first cooling-focused facilities with the aim to provide cooling solutions in nine countries (Bangladesh, El Salvador, Kenya, Malawi, North Macedonia, Panama, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia, Sri Lanka). It will focus on regulation and policy, technical assistance and financing to address and help remove barriers to the development of sustainable cooling investments.