Tuesday 2 June 2020

‘Only 22% of cooling sector companies have 2050 emissions targets’

Only 22% of cooling sector companies have 2050 emissions targets.

That's the suggestion made in new research from global non-profit CDP, which assessed 18 high-impact publicly-listed companies from the cooling sector, which is valued at $300 billion (£239bn) and forecast to see sales growth of 40% by 2030 compared to 2019.

The findings of the study suggest the major consumer electronic and capital goods firms that dominate the sector are failing to innovate or make the latest technology widely available, with many not deploying their most efficient products, resulting in "a significant gap between what is technically possible and minimum efficiency standards".

CDP notes Trane Technologies, Mitsubishi Electric and LG Electronics were leading the sector on climate-related financial metrics, while Blue Star, Hisense and Chigo were lagging.

The report highlights a lack of innovation with spending on research and development at 2.2% of net sales, significantly lower than the Capital Goods average of 3.5% - it notes this amount of spending is not enough to facilitate the deep transformation of the sector that is required to lead to a "healthy, resilient, zero-emission future".

Jess Brown, Executive Director at Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program commented: “Cooling companies know they need to phase out and down super-polluting F-gases to comply with the Kigali Amendment. Simultaneously improving the energy efficiency of cooling technology presents an even bigger emissions reduction opportunity.

"This report shines a light on the business leadership already underway but also shows that much more can be done by the world’s largest cooling companies if they are to make an appropriate, and much needed, contribution to tackling the climate crisis.”