The Cooling Dividend: Building a market for low-cost cooling that protects lives and livelihoods in Africa and South Asia

The Cooling Dividend presents findings from the first year of the SPACES programme (Scaling Passive and Affordable Cooling for Economic Resilience and Sustainability), an initiative funded by Shell Foundation and supported by the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) through its Global Research and Technology Development (GRTD) programme via the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) Platform. The programme tested innovative cooling solutions with more than 12,000 workers and micro-entrepreneurs across India, Nigeria and Ghana. 

Evidence from the pilots suggests that cooling can deliver measurable economic benefits for workers and small businesses. Delivery riders using cooling jackets reported lower heat stress, which enabled them to complete more deliveries and increase their earnings by, while users across the programme reported lower levels of heat fatigue and illness. Cooling canvas increased net income margins by 10–38 percentage points, with some of the strongest gains recorded among women-led businesses. Cooling film increased net incomes by 13–25% for vendors while reducing spoilage and extending the shelf life of perishable produce.  

The findings come as extreme heat increasingly threatens economic resilience across developing economies. 2.4 billion workers worldwide are exposed to excessive heat at work and that productivity losses linked to heat stress are projected to reach US$2.4 trillion annually by 2030, equivalent to around 80 million full-time jobs. Some of the greatest impacts are felt by people whose livelihoods depend on working outdoors or handling perishable goods, including farmers, traders, delivery riders and market vendors.