Government of India, Mission Innovation and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) announced the launch of The Global Cooling Prize, an international competition to incentivize the development of a residential cooling technology that will have at least five times (5x) less climate impact than the standard Room Air Conditioning (RAC) units. The winning AC technology could prevent up to 100 gigatons (GT) of CO2-equivalent emissions by 2050, and put the world on a pathway to mitigate up to 0.5ËšC of global warming by 2100.

According to a new report by Rocky Mountain Institute 'Solving the Global Cooling Challenge' also released today, business-as-usual measures whilst important are insufficient to overcome the impact of RAC growth and calls for a 5x solution.

The prize is supported by Government of India through the Department of Science and Technology and Mission Innovation and will be administered by a coalition of leading research institutes-Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Conservation X Labs,  Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), and CEPT University.

"If we don't do something about the growing global impact of air conditioning on our climate today, it will derail our best attempts to meet the Paris Agreement goal on emissions. So, I congratulate the Indian government for driving such an ambitious effort to tackle the problem, and encourage all global entrepreneurs to take up this challenge today," said Sir Richard Branson, Global Cooling Prize Ambassador and Founder, Virgin Group

Over US$3 million will be awarded in prize money over the course of the two-year competition. Up to 10 short-listed competing technologies will be awarded up to US$200,000 each in intermediate prizes to support the design and prototype development of their innovative residential cooling technology designs.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate Change said, "The Government of India supports this innovation challenge, which aims to develop sustainable and efficient technology to provide thermal comfort to all, and invites applicants from around the world to apply for The Global Cooling Prize.".

The Global Cooling Prize coalition will not only help identify the innovative cooling technology but also support incubation, commercialization, and ultimately mass adoption in India and other countries around the world.

Global Cooling Prize | globalcoolingprize.org  

RMI | www.rmi.org