Who Will Pay To Cool The Planet?

InnovationSustainabilityWho Will Pay To Cool The Planet?ByNina Seega,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I am the Sustainable Finance Director at Cambridge University's CISLFollow AuthorApr 24, 2026, 07:58am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.(Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty ImagesWhen Xavier Moya was presented with a $1m cheque for an exciting innovation in cooling technology, he was so pleased he proudly marched through the streets, with a giant cheque in his arms, straight to campus. The Cambridge University professor’s big idea was to find a novel way of making things cooler, by ignoring gas, the predominant technology for most fridges and experiment with solid state materials that alter temperature at different pressures. An enthusiastic Spaniard, Xavier says he hopes the technology could have a chance of limiting emissions as the demand for cooling technologies is set to triple by 2050. The prize money from the TERA-Award, a global competition to identify and accelerate high potential climate technologies has allowed Xavier and his team at Barocal to move out of a temporary shipping container and into a dedicated lab while “giving us valuable exposure across Asia, a critical market for the technology,” he says. Advancements like this could ultimately deliver cooling systems that are both more energy-efficient and free from high global warming potential refrigerants. MORE FOR YOUCooling is becoming one of the defining energy challenges of a warming world. Heating and cooling together already account for around half of global final energy consumption, and demand for cooling alone is projected to grow by 45% in the next 25 years as temperatures rise and access to cooling expands. What has changed is not just demand, but timing. Tightening efficiency standards, rising heat-related economic losses, a...