Good morning, Honorable Minister Biruta, distinguished guests, colleagues, friends

It is an honor and a pleasure to be here in Kigali a truly wonderful city, and the birthplace of our work. So I want to start by offering my personal thanks to your country for propelling the issue of cooling into my life and those of many in the room today. As a political scientist, I never thought I would get so much job satisfaction from looking at labels on fridges or staring deeply at the gunk and grim that clogs up so many air-conditioning units!

Why? Because cooling is key to human health and prosperity, and is increasingly important as the world experiences rapid urbanisation, economic growth and rising temperatures.

Unfortunately, the technology underpinning cooling poses an urgent environmental threat. Current cooling systems use super polluting greenhouse gases and consume large amounts of energy, usually derived from fossil fuels, therefore driving climate change.

It is estimated that the combination of super-polluting f-gases and energy use could cause a whole degree Celsius of warming by the end of the century. This is over half of all the warming that scientists advise is safe. And it is why cooling was voted the single biggest solution to tackling climate change.

That’s the bad news!

The good news is that, in large part thanks to Rwanda’s leadership - The success of the Kigali Amendment could prevent up to 0.5 degree Celsius of warming from the phase down of f-gases.

Increasing the energy efficiency of cooling could double the climate benefits.

Which is why 17 foundations and individuals, including household names such as Bill Gates, came together in an unprecedented collaboration, to create The Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (or K-CEP as we affectionately call ourselves).

K-CEP aims to help developing countries realize the health and economic benefits of more efficient, clean cooling and to help the world realize this huge climate prize.

We launched in spring last year and provide a suite of services including:

-  support to strengthen public institutions, build capacity, and plan for the future

- R&D for developing country businesses,

- Technical assistance for governments to develop policies, standards and programs

We will shortly be announcing further grant funding for work that unlocks additional capital from financial institutions, be they public or private, but with the common goal of scaling up efficient, clean cooling. And later this year, in partnership with Sustainable Energy For All, who will launch their groundbreaking report on Cooling (more about that from Rachel at the end), we will announce work to widen access to cooling for those most in need.

We are honored to work in collaboration with the institutions and agencies of the Montreal Protocol, with NGOs and consultancies, academics and international organizations (many of whom are in the room today) in order to bring the best expertise to address developing country needs for efficient, clean cooling.

And In Africa those needs are huge. Across the continent from Morocco to Djibouti, from Egypt to South Africa, excessive heat hampers economic activity and endangers lives. Often it is the poorest and most vulnerable that suffer the most. Too often, these are women and children.

The energy that is needed to keep people, medicine, vaccines and food cool is no doubt being put to good use. But ask yourselves - is this happening in the most productive way.

No. It is not. Energy is wasted powering low efficiency cooling technology when it could be put to more productive uses, creating more local jobs, and increasing consumer purchasing power.

More efficient appliances, including fridges and fans, can reduce the size and cost of off grid solar by 50% or more, thereby helping scale up access to clean energy.

So we are very pleased to be supporting the Government of Rwanda in its work to identify and take forward solutions for more efficient, clean cooling. Our support is also being provided across the African continent, as you will see from the newly launched Africa cooling map, which also shows the work of our partners.

This is starting to look like a groundswell of action.

Hopefully this action, and similar work around the world, can inform the discussions that parties to the Montreal Protocol are having about how best to benefit from the cooling efficiency opportunity, in order to create much needed longevity in our efforts.

This is a huge job – but the dividends are on a planetary scale.

Thank you all for coming today. I look forward to constructive discussion and good work ahead.