Cool Up’s Technical Capacity Building Lead, Riadh Bhar, Associate Director at Guidehouse Germany, participated in the UNIDO Sustainable Cooling Forum, held from 8–10 April 2026 at the UNIDO headquarters and the Hofburg in Vienna. Convening policymakers, private-sector leaders, researchers, and development partners, the event provided a global platform to accelerate the deployment and large-scale adoption of sustainable cooling solutions. Discussions focused on demonstrating the impact of UNIDO’s Montreal Protocol projects, sharing proven and emerging solutions across technology, policy, and finance, and strengthening partnerships to address the growing demand for cooling in a holistic manner. A strong emphasis was placed on systems thinking, recognising that effective cooling transitions require coordinated action across policy frameworks, financing mechanisms, technologies, and societal needs. 

The forum spotlighted Cool Up core themes, particularly advancing enabling policy and regulatory frameworks–such as National Cooling Action Plans–promoting the uptake of energy‑efficient technologies and natural refrigerants, and scaling alternative and passive cooling solutions. Financing approaches (including blended finance, ESCO and mini‑ESCO models, targeted incentives, and bulk procurement) were highlighted as critical enablers for market transformation. Additional insights included the importance of circularity and lifecycle refrigerant management (recovery, recycling, and reclamation), as well as structured public–private partnerships to support sustainable cooling value chains.  A key takeaway of the UNIDO Sustainable Cooling Forum was the need to rethink the format of large international events to better leverage the expertise of participants, moving beyond top‑down presentations toward more interactive knowledge exchange.