This year’s report, the second in the Chilling Prospects series, shows a notable growth in the numbers of ‘urban poor’ – those living in cities yet often lacking reliable access to electricity – at highest risk from a lack of cooling access. 680 million people living in urban slums have little or no cooling to protect them in a heatwave – a rise of 50 million people in the past year – with an additional 365 million people living in poor rural areas also at high risk. A further 2.2 billion in the lower middle class are only able to afford cheaper, less energy efficient air conditioners, potentially causing a spike in global energy demand and profound negative climate impacts.

Brian Dean, Head of Cooling and Energy Efficiency at Sustainable Energy for All, highlighted the need to see cooling access as a right: “In a warming world facing ongoing deadly impacts from climate change, we cannot view cooling as a luxury. In a heatwave, it can be a matter of life or death for children and older people. It ensures that workers are productive, that families can store nutritious food securely, and that infants can receive an effective vaccine in a rural clinic. Delivering sustainable cooling is an issue of equity that will enable millions to escape poverty and help to realize the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Launched during the Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol (MOP 31) in Rome, Italy, this year’s report takes stock of progress made over the past year, highlighting new solutions to sustainable access to cooling and calling on governments, industry, and development finance to urgently work together to reduce the number of people at risk from lack of access to cooling. It also provides a new tool, The Cooling for All Needs Assessment, for governments, NGOs and development institutions to accurately size the market for cooling demands based on comfort, safety, nutrition and health needs.

Highlight findings from this year’s report include:

• In 52 high-risk countries, 365 million people in rural areas and 680 million people in urban slums are at risk due to:
  • Poor rural areas lack access to safe food and medicines
  • Poor urban slums have little or no cooling to protect them in a heatwave
• 2.2 billion people present a different risk, a rising, lower-middle class in developing countries, who are only able to afford cheaper, less efficient air conditioners that could create a spike in energy demand and a rise in emissions.
• Across the 52 high-impact countries, at least 3.2 billion people face cooling access challenges in 2019.
• Cities across the world are growing and becoming hotter, which is causing increased pressure on their electricity systems to deliver cooling sustainably.
• Many countries do not have national cooling plans that will invest in infrastructure to provide residential and commercial cooling, address damage to the climate by inefficient cooling systems and establish cold chains that support food security and medical security.

Chilling Prospects: Tracking Sustainable Cooling for All 2019 sets out a series of action-oriented recommendations, complete with resources, to allow policymakers, development financiers, and industry to accelerate access to cooling. These include:

• Government policymakers should develop and implement comprehensive national cooling plans that protect the vulnerable, using the Cooling for All Needs Assessment to measure demand and aggregate solutions.
• Donors, development practitioners and financiers should prioritize the most vulnerable. To do so, they must harness a diverse set of financing tools to deliver universal cooling access. There is also a clear need to track financial flows directed towards access to cooling for at-risk populations. 
• Industry and business must ensure efficiency and affordability at the ‘Base of the Pyramid’, accelerating action through skills development, maintenance, and technician training. 
• In addition to supporting policy planning at the national level, cities and local authorities should use the Cooling for All Needs Assessment to identify priority actions to protect their most vulnerable populations. 

The report draws attention to the direct intersection between three internationally agreed goals: the Paris Climate Agreement; the Sustainable Development Goals; and the Montreal Protocol’s Kigali Amendment. One of the key goals of the Kigali Amendment is to limit consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a potent greenhouse gas used widely in air conditioners and refrigerators.

The report was produced in partnership and supported by the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP). The Chilling Prospects research is part of SEforALL’s Cooling for All initiative, which developed the report along with contributions from the Global Panel on Access to Cooling.

For any media requests, please email media@SEforALL.org

What needs to happen for more blended finance to be directed towards SDG7?

There needs to be a deeper understanding of the various blended finance structuring approaches. Convergence’s database of historical deals and its case studies on specific transactions are a useful starting point. This archive offers an evidence base for effectively structuring new deals and points investors looking to diversify their portfolios towards potential partners.  

How else is Convergence contributing to the achievement of SDG7?

Convergence is the global network for blended finance. We generate blended finance, data, intelligence, and deal flow to increase private sector investment in developing countries, in support of the SDGs. One way we contribute to SDG7 is through our Design Funding grant program, which supports the design of innovative blended finance vehicles that aim to attract private capital to global development. Under this program, 39 percent of grants have directly supported the achievement of SDG7. For example, we supported the design of the Climate Finance Facility, the first “Green Bank” in an emerging market, which is housed within the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

What other successes have you achieved thus far?

From our database of roughly 500 blended finance transactions, our data shows that 162 blended finance deals have been aligned to SDG7 to date, representing over USD 72 billion, with participation from over 500 investors. We have seen these financing flows target projects (37 percent), funds (35 percent), companies (17 percent), facilities (9 percent), and bonds/notes (2 percent). At least half of that financing comes from private investors with commercial mandates, whose participation has been facilitated by concessional capital.

Convergence is presently also supporting capital raises for 32 SDG7-related deals that are seeking USD 2 billion in financing. These transactions have secured about USD 1 billion to-date and we are matching them to our global network of investors to help to close their individual funding gaps.

*Ladé Araba is the Managing Director for Africa at Convergence Blended Finance and is Co-Chair of the Board of EED Advisory.

For any media requests, please contact Beth Woodthorpe-Evans on media@SEforALL.org or +12023901042.

Held during the UN General Assembly week and the day after the Climate Action Summit, this year’s Seven for 7 celebration looked at the nexus of energy and health, highlighting leadership that supported significant progress in the areas of cooling for all, powering health care, clean fuels for all and outdoor air quality.

As emphasized during the event, the world is off track to meet global energy goals, but leadership highlighted by Seven for 7 2019 honorees shows the inspiration and success stories happening on the ground that can help drive faster progress. Opening the evening, António Mexia, Chairman of the SEforALL Administrative Board, CEO of Energias de Portugal, focused on the central role that sustainable energy for all has to support global goals: “SDG 7 is at the core of the other SDGs. Without SDG7 many of the goals will never be reached. We will see a lot of different solutions and hear stories of success so that we can all learn from them.”

He was followed by H.E. Rasmus Prehn, Minister for Development Cooperation, Denmark, who thanked SEforALL for the collaboration on the Energy Track of the UN Climate Summit. He said: “We face a huge challenge, but it can be done if we get all hands on deck and focus our energy on energy.” The Minister added that Denmark is proud to be a front-runner at the national level and willing to continue to lead internationally.

“When working towards energy transition, keep the health benefits in mind,” Dr. Maria Neira, Director of the Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health Department of the World Health Organisation said in her statement. She continued: “People ask me: With seven million deaths every year and the diseases that are caused by air pollution, how do you keep some optimism? I am keeping optimistic because I meet people like you.  When I see the examples and ideas that are presented today, this gives me a lot of optimism.”

Harriet Lamb, CEO of Ashden, SEforALL’s partner for this event, said: “We are celebrating seven amazing women and men who are creating the living alternative and showing how another world could look and be. They're doing it not through fancy new technology but sometimes by taking very ordinary everyday objects from paint pots to plant pots. They're doing it by engaging marginalized communities and putting them first, not last. As they're taking carbon out of the economy, they're putting justice back in.”

The seven honorees included political leaders, city governments and businesses that are improving lives globally and locally. They are leading and driving action in Ghana, India and Mexico, and in cities as diverse as New York, Medellín and Ahmedabad.

“We love our world; we love the women, we want to improve health care, we want to improve gender issues, women empowerment, education, well-being of our children. We're trying to fight maternal mortality. We're trying to fight natal mortality. All of these cannot be achieved if we do not address the clean cooking issue,” H.E. Samira Bawumia, Second Lady of Ghana, Ambassador for the Clean Cooking Alliance and first of the seven honorees to speak on the night, told the guests.

“Smallholder farmers that grow the majority of the world's food do not have access to basic technology, training, financing to provide power for their homes, to provide power for their farms. It doesn't have to be this way we could change this narrative”, said Alex Eaton, CEO and Co-Founder of Sistema.bio whose company was honored for creating an innovative biogas system that turns animal waste into clean cooking fuels and produces a planet-friendly fertilizer.

The City of Medellin was honored for its Green Corridors Project that provides shade for cyclists and pedestrians, cools built-up areas and improves air quality along busy roads. “Three decades ago, it was unthinkable that Medellín was recognized for more than its violence. In 1991, we were the most violent city in the world, living every day between pain and fear. Today we embrace that dark past because it brought us to where we are. That adversity allowed us to reach for incredible achievements, working together to turn our difficulties into something better”, said Paula Palacio, Secretary of Infrastructure of Medellín.

The other initiatives presented and honored during the evening were Chhattisgarh State Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) for providing solar power to 900 health care centers and hospitals; Philips Community Life Centers, community-driven and holistic platforms for strengthening primary healthcare, combining renewable energy, energy efficient design and locally relevant medical devices; the city of Ahmedabad for its Heat Action Plan that saved the lives of thousands; as well as the NYC CoolRoofs Initiative for engaging volunteers and green job trainees in applying white, reflective surfaces to roofs.

Find out more about this year’s Seven for 7 honorees.