International Conference on Sustainable Heating & Cooling

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), approximately half of global annual energy consumption is used to provide heating or cooling, most of which comes from the burning of fossil fuels.

In Chile, at least 37% of primary energy supply is used for heating and cooling. The country has become a world leader in renewable electricity generation, but the challenge today is to expand this success to heating and cooling generation, in order to accelerate and strengthen the development of sustainable and efficient uses of this sector.

For this reason, in July 2021, the Chilean Ministry of Energy published its Heating and Cooling Strategy, which lays the foundations for the government and its partner stakeholders to tackle these issues. This conference marks the publication of the Strategy and will examine heating and cooling decarbonisation from both international and Chilean perspectives.

The conference will build upon the Heating & Cooling Strategy, by developing an understanding of the challenges identified within it and the range of sustainable solutions for the sector, to achieve carbon neutrality and enhance the quality of life of the Chilean people. 

The conference is organized in two panel discussions discussing in one hand the global trends and experiences and on the other hand the context in Chile.

The first panel focuses on international experiences of the sector, offering insights into the policies, technologies and trends that are driving the decarbonisation of heating and cooling. Panelists will highlight experiences from a range of perspectives: buildings, industry, policy implementation and unlocking investment, which will serve as examples of ways in which to overcome barriers faced by the sector globally.

The second panel focuses on challenges for the Chilean heating and cooling sector identified within the Strategy. Panelists will discuss, using a range of examples and success cases, ways in which sustainable energy can be developed across heating and cooling applications, and the roles of a range of key actors in achieving the aims of the Strategy.

The conference begins with opening remarks from the IEA’s Executive Director, Dr. Fatih Birol, and the Minister of Energy and Mining of Chile, Juan Carlos Jobet, followed by a keynote on international trends in efficient, low-carbon heating and cooling systems by Dr. Brian Motherway, head of the Energy Efficiency Division at the IEA.