Iain Campbell & Diana Ürge-Vorsatz talk: "Cooling Technology and Innovation"

Past Event

Date
 27 September 2021, 2:00pm - 3:00pm

Location
 Online - Crowdcast

Event Recording:

Cooling is necessary for the quality of life of billions of people living across countries.

Whether in hot climates or in regions that are traditionally unprepared for ever more frequent heatwaves due to climate change. The energy needed for air conditioning is likely to triple by 2050, with an equivalent of ten new air conditioning units projected to be sold every second for the next 30 years (as per the IEA). This huge demand has the potential to drive up greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbate the very problem it is designed to alleviate. The Future of Cooling Programme’s vision is to understand and shape worldwide cooling solutions which place planetary stewardship and protecting people’s needs at their heart. These will inform and help prepare countries for extreme heat events by prioritising passive and less energy-intensive technology, while shifting the trajectory of cooling growth towards sustainability.

As we move towards one of the most important rounds of the UNFCCC Climate Negotiations, the Future of Cooling programme is hosting a series of online seminars leading up to COP26. The motivation behind the series is the need for high-profile and broad-reaching conversations on tackling cooling as a system -- one that is integral to addressing the climate crisis. The webinars will engage in conversation with academics, industry and policy makers, and cover each of the themes that link to the programme’s framework on sustainable cooling: social interactions and cooling cultures; cooling technology and innovation; models for sustainable cold chains; circular cooling economy; infrastructure design for sustainable cooling; and finally, cooling for climate action.

This talk is organised by the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Cooling

Iain Campbell

Iain Campbell
Senior Fellow, Rocky Mountains Institute (RMI)

Iain Campbell is a Senior Fellow at the Rocky Mountains Institute (RMI) where he leads the Institute’s building practice. Before joining RMI, Iain pursued a successful business career in energy efficiency in buildings. He held various positions with Johnson Controls between 2005 and 2014; most notably he was responsible for the fast-growing Global Energy Solutions and the Global Workplace Solutions businesses within the Building Efficiency division. Iain led acquisitions in the areas of building services, lighting, demand response, energy management, and carbon reporting. Previously Iain served as the President of York International where he began his career in 1983.

Iain has developed an in-depth understanding and several decades-long experience in cooling during his career. He was responsible for the commercial and industrial HVAC and refrigeration businesses at York International covering product development, engineering, manufacturing, sales, and service within the Americas region. At RMI, Iain helped to launch the Global Cooling Prize to drive climate-friendly technological innovation on room cooling units.

Diana Urge Vorsatz

Professor Diana Ürge-Vorsatz
Vice Chair of Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Diana Ürge-Vorsatz serves as Vice Chair of Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. She is a Professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy at the Central European University (CEU).

Diana was a Coordinating Lead Author in two Assessment Reports of the IPCC. She served on the United Nation’s Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and led the buildings-related work in the Global Energy Assessment. She serves as associate editor of the journal Energy Efficiency and is a member of the Editorial Board of Annual Reviews of Environment and Resources. She was a Visiting Professor at the International Christian University of Tokyo and a Research Scholar at IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis).

She has been serving on the Governing and Advisory boards of several organisations, including Innogy (formerly RWE), the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund (KLIEN), the European Climate Foundation (ECF), the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), and the Hungarian Energy-Efficiency Co-financing Program (HEECP), and the Club of Budapest. She is regularly invited to high-level review panels, such as that evaluating the work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the EU’s Joint Research Centre. She received the Hungarian Republic’s Presidential Award “Medium Cross” in 2008, as well as the “Role Model” award in 2009 and was invited as a member of Academia Europaea in 2017