DUBAI: The United States, Canada and Kenya were among 63 countries to join a pledge on Tuesday to deeply cut cooling-related emissions at the COP28 climate summit.

The Global Cooling Pledge marks the world’s first collective focus on climate-warming emissions from cooling, which includes refrigeration for food and medicine and air conditioning.

It commits countries to reduce by 2050 their cooling-related emissions by at least 68 per cent compared to 2022 levels, along with a suite of other targets including establishing minimum energy performance standards by 2030.

“We want to lay out a pathway to reduce cooling-related emissions across all sectors but increase access to sustainable cooling,” US climate envoy John Kerry told COP28.

Meanwhile, six of the world’s largest dairy companies will soon begin disclosing their methane emissions as part of a new global alliance launched at COP28.

The six members of the Dairy Methane Action Alliance —Danone, Bel Group, General Mills, Lactalis USA, Kraft Heinz and Nestle — will begin reporting their methane emissions by mid-2024 and will write methane action plans by the end of that year.

Methane is nearly 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide, acco­rding to the US Environment Protection Agency.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2023