Ikea is to donate millions in a bid to help people across the globe get access to climate-friendly and efficient cooling systems.
The retail giant has announced its Foundation will give $25 million in grants over the next four years to Clean Cooling Collaborative. The program, which launched in 2017, is creating strategies to avoid 100 gigatons of CO2e emissions globally by 2050. Its initiatives include reducing the need for mechanical cooling through improved building design and urban planning; optimising mechanical cooling technologies and their use to be more efficient, climate-friendly and grid-friendly; and increasing access to efficient, climate-friendly cooling for people at risk from the threats of extreme heat.
The team is focussing upon India, China, Southeast Asia, and the United States - the regions which are projected will be responsible for 75 percent of all global cooling-related emissions over the next 30 years.
In a statement, the Ikea Foundation writes: “Cooling appliances like air conditioners and refrigerators were designed to protect people, food and medicine from heat. However, the increased use of these technologies adds greenhouse gas emissions through the energy used to operate them and by refrigerants leaking fluorinated gases into the atmosphere.
“Today, cooling represents more than seven percent of global annual greenhouse gas emissions. It is poised to double by 2050 unless there are interventions to improve a full range of cooling solutions.”
The Collaborative is part of the ClimateWorks Foundation, whose other donors include the Bezos Earth Fund and the Ford Foundation.
