Ten years after the adoption of the Kigali Amendment, the implementation question is no longer limited to refrigerant transition. Cooling demand is now projected to more than triple by 2050 under business as usual. UNEP’s Global Cooling Watch 2025 concludes that this trajectory can only be avoided through an integrated pathway combining refrigerant phase-down, higher equipment efficiency, passive and low-energy cooling, and better planning across end-use sectors. Earlier UNEP-IEA analysis found that improving cooling efficiency alongside refrigerant transition could more than double Kigali’s climate benefits, with the combined potential to avoid up to 260 billion tonnes of CO₂ by 2050 and save nearly USD 3 trillion in energy generation and transmission costs.
The policy landscape is moving, but unevenly. As of 2025, 29 countries had established specific cooling-sector emissions targets, 134 had integrated cooling into national climate or energy strategies, and 74 countries had joined the Global Cooling Pledge, covering nearly 80% of global cooling emissions. National-level delivery is also advancing, with countries such as Jordan developing comprehensive cooling action plans and hydrocarbon feasibility studies helping secure Multilateral Fund resources for refrigerant conversion in the MENAT region.
Yet only 54 countries were assessed as having comprehensive policies aligned with the Sustainable Cooling Pathway. This gap between policy recognition and implementation is where the next decade of Kigali delivery will be won or lost.
For the Cool Coalition, connecting Kigali implementation with equipment efficiency, passive cooling, and sectoral applications is a key delivery space. This event will focus on the next implementation phase of Kigali, moving from refrigerant transition as a stand-alone compliance agenda to sustainable cooling delivery across equipment, buildings, and cold chains.