Reducing HFC Dependence Through Passive and Next-Generation Cooling

On the evening of the second day of the 48th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, the UNEP Cool Coalition, the ASEAN Centre for Energy and SPACECOOL convened a side event on Reducing Energy Demand and HFC Dependence Through Next-Generation Technologies. The session brought together national ozone authorities, regional policy institutions, technology innovators and gender and equity experts to examine how demand-side action can accelerate implementation of the Kigali Amendment. 

Reducing demand for mechanical cooling remains one of the fastest and most cost-effective routes to cutting both hydrofluorocarbon consumption and energy-related emissions. According to UNEP’s Global Cooling Watch 2025, passive cooling strategies can lower indoor temperatures by 0.5 to 8°C, with payback periods of two to eight years. Passive and low-energy cooling account for 65 per cent of the emissions reductions achievable under the Sustainable Cooling Pathway. But policy has not kept pace. While 69 countries mandate improvements to the building envelope, only 19 include mandatory requirements for shading. 

Opening the session, Amr Seleem, Country Engagement and Climate Policy Lead at the UNEP Cool Coalition, framed the discussion around a shift in the question being asked. “As we mark ten years since the Kigali Amendment, this evening asks a different question: not only how fast we phase down HFCs, but how to build a cooling system that needs fewer of them in the first place.” Seleem also placed equity at the centre of the discussion. Low-income households are least likely to own air conditioning and face some of the greatest heat risks. Passive and low-energy solutions can deliver faster comfort gains at lower cost, while reducing the amount of mechanical cooling that must later be financed and supplied. 

Delivering the keynote, Rio Jon Piter Silitonga, Senior Officer in the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Department at the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), presented the Roadmap for Extreme Heat Protection through Passive Cooling in the ASEAN Region, developed by ACE and UNEP, and launched in Manila in April 2026. Envelope optimisation, natural ventilation, cool surfaces and shading together could cut cooling energy demand by close to 42 per cent, with savings holding across ASEAN's climate zones including hot and humid conditions. "Avoided cooling demand is equipment never installed," he noted. Silitonga also linked the Roadmap to the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation 2026–2030, combining harmonised efficiency standards on the supply side with passive-cooling requirements in building codes on the demand side.He concluded by noting that the Roadmap was designed as a shared platform rather than a finished product, with the implementation phase inviting partners across the cooling community to contribute their expertise, technologies and finance.

In the panel discussion, Dr Jihad Alsawair, Advisor to the Minister of Environment of Jordan, argued that scaling requires more than successful demonstrations. Governance systems must create long-term market confidence, supported by a national cooling strategy aligned with housing, health, energy and environmental policy. Jordan developed its National Cooling Action Plan (NCAP) in 2025, recognising the need for coordinated action across institutions through building codes, Minimum Energy Performance Standards and climate-friendly refrigerants. “Pilot projects work, but wider implementation depends on access to finance and incentives that reduce initial costs and encourage market transformation,” Alsawair said, pointing to tax incentives, grants and low-interest loans for cooling retrofits. 

Nguyen Dang Thu Cuc, National Ozone Coordinator at Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, described how the country treats passive cooling, energy efficiency and low-global-warming-potential refrigerants as one integrated strategy, rather than three parallel agendas. Cooling is Viet Nam’s fastest-growing electricity-demand segment, with emissions projected to rise substantially by 2030 without integrated action. Code-compliant commercial buildings have achieved cooling-energy savings of up to 25 per cent through stronger performance on envelopes, shading and ventilation. “The fastest route to Kigali compliance is to reduce the cooling we need in the first place,” she remarked, presenting stronger alignment between NCAPs and Kigali Implementation Plans as the central recommendation. 

The panel then turned to the evidence required for promising technologies to move beyond demonstration. “Pilots allow us to move from assumptions to facts by testing performance, market reaction and end-user acceptance,” stated Elie Mansour, Project Manager at Lebanon’s National Ozone Unit. Policymakers need credible, locally relevant data on real-world performance, energy savings, operating costs, payback periods and safety, while markets need evidence that reduces the perceived operational and financial risks of adopting unfamiliar solutions. As a result, demonstrations should be designed to generate the evidence needed for informed policymaking, adaptive regulations and broader market replication, rather than treated as isolated technical exercises.

The challenge for radiative cooling is now less about technical performance than market creation. Masahiro Suemitsu, Chief Executive Officer of SPACECOOL, presented surfaces that reduce temperatures under direct sunlight without consuming energy and have been deployed internationally since 2021, including across approximately 10,000 square metres in Thailand. “The barrier is no longer technology performance, but creating a market where passive cooling can compete with conventional technologies,” said Suemitsu. He added that governments can accelerate uptake through pilot deployment that establishes credibility with buyers and financiers, supported by procurement frameworks, performance standards and markets that recognise the value of avoided energy demand. 

Alexandra Mutungi, Gender and Climate Change Expert at the UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, highlighted that exposure to heat is only one part of vulnerability. The other is the capacity to cope. Urbanisation is intensifying heat-island effects and reducing ecological buffering, while inadequate housing and the cost of mechanical cooling leave lower-income communities more exposed to heat-related illness. Building standards and a passive-first approach can reduce the cost of achieving safe indoor conditions, supported by capacity building for local governments delivering policy at community level. Finance must be environmentally and socially responsive and directed towards the communities facing the greatest risks, although the lack of disaggregated data continues to constrain targeting. “We have the money. We need to use it efficiently,” Mutungi said. She also positioned communities as participants rather than recipients. Traditional knowledge can be combined with new technologies, while research institutions can help document and validate solutions already emerging in communities on the front line of extreme heat.  

During the Q&A session, the discussion returned to how pilots become credible evidence. Panellists stressed that demonstrations must begin with a clear understanding of consumption patterns and generate the performance, cost and user data needed by ministries, investors and markets.

In her closing remarks, Niroopa Kowlesser, Cooling Policy Specialist at the UNEP Cool Coalition, drew the threads together by noting that “Passive cooling is not a substitute for active cooling,” and that “Most countries will need both, and their impact will be greatest when planned as a consolidated demand-side and supply-side strategy.” NCAPs and Kigali Implementation Plans provide the principal entry points for that integration. Kowlesser also highlighted the Enabling Pledge Implementation for Cooling (EPIC) Facility, the Cool Coalition’s early-stage technical-assistance mechanism, as a route for countries to convert passive-cooling priorities into costed and actionable plans, supported by expertise from the Passive Cooling Working Group. 

The discussion will continue in September at the Global Cooling Pledge Assembly in Singapore, where countries and partners will examine how to strengthen capacity for passive and nature-based cooling and embed demand reduction more firmly in Global Cooling Pledge implementation.