Activating Circular Economy for Sustainable Cooling

This study examines the multifaceted challenges and promising opportunities surrounding lifecycle refrigerant management (LRM) in India. It explores the imperative transition towards a circular economy approach while analysing the environmental impact of refrigerant emissions. Furthermore, it proposes a range of overarching policies, sector-specific measures, and financing options to facilitate the operationalisation of LRM in India.

India is witnessing a rapid surge in cooling demand that is set to increase eightfold in the coming decades. However, this remarkable growth is accompanied by a daunting challenge — the heavy reliance on refrigerant gases having high global warming potential (GWP). This will lead to an alarming amount of high GWP refrigerant gases accumulating in the cooling devices. Given the limited adoption of good servicing practices, unorganised waste management, and the lack of any policy directive for refrigerant management, the gases gradually get emitted into the environment during operation and at the end-of-life (EOL) of the cooling systems.