Companies in Transition Towards 100% Renewable Energy: Focus on Heating and Cooling

The objectives set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement can only be met through an urgent and complete decarbonisation of our entire energy system. This requires that all of our energy requirements – power, heating and cooling, and transportation – are reliably met by 100% renewable energy and accessible to all people.

While renewable capacity growth has been outpacing new installed capacity in fossil fuels for the past decade, progress in renewables for heating and cooling use is still far behind its potential, particularly in the industrial sector. Decarbonising heating and cooling remains critical as these end-uses account for approximately 50% of total final energy consumption globally with the industrial sector representing about 75% of global heating and cooling use.

The IRENA Coalition for Action’s newly launched white paper "Companies in transition towards 100% renewable energy: Focus on heating and cooling" showcases that many companies have already successfully integrated high shares of renewables into their heating and cooling operations. However, companies and governments will need to work hand-in-hand to further accelerate decarbonisation of the industrial sector.

This webinar gathered public and private sector stakeholders to discuss key opportunities and challenges faced by companies setting and implementing corporate renewable energy heating and cooling targets, including how policies can be designed to effectively encourage the use of renewable heating and cooling in industry. Discussions highlighted successful examples of companies that are transitioning to 100% renewable energy and have set ambitious renewable energy targets for their heating and cooling operations.

The detailed agenda is available here.