The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released draft India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) on 16th September 2018. ICAP takes a holistic and balanced approach to meet cooling demand encompassing both passive and active cooling strategies as well as optimization of cooling loads. It provides a 20-year perspective, with projections for cooling needs in 2037-38.

ICAP, has identified a set of goals and objectives to be met by 2037-38 with an overarching aim of providing Sustaianble cooling and thermal comfort for all while securing environmental and socio-economic benefits for the society. It also identifies priority areas where actions need to be implemented and suggests an implementation framework to ensure the goals are met.

At the outset we commend and appreciate the effort of MOEFCC in drafting an action plan that address a very pertinent and pressing problem that India is facing, in meeting the increasing cooling demand. It is indeed a much awaited plan and addresses most of the issues that can meet sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all while securing environmental and socio-economic benefits for the society. However, we find that the plan has not given enough attention to certain key concerns including monitoring, verification and enforcement mechanisms, data collection, financial incentives for different players, operational framework for achieving recommendations and targets, and more importantly the aspect of human behaviour as a crucial dimension.

Our comments and suggestions in order to address the above mentioned concerns were sent to MOEFCC.