Servitization for the energy transition: The case of enabling cooling-as-a-service (CaaS)

Abstract

As temperatures rise rapidly around the world, Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS) promises to offer cooling solutions without requiring any initial outlay of funds. CaaS transfers the emphasis from ownership of cooling equipment to its prevision as a service by enabling users to pay for cooling according to usage. CaaS is an emerging servitization circular economy business model that is both attracting great attention and is not yet well-documented in the academic literature. Given that energy demand for cooling is set to triple in the upcoming decades, new cooling solutions are urgently needed to protect the thermal comfort, health and productivity of people around the world who will experience increased or new needs for cooling. Business model innovation for the servitization of cooling holds great potential to overcome existing barriers to the delivery of cooling that is accessible as well as energy and materially efficient. The paper's focus on cooling is a novel approach contributing to the limited information on how to implement servitization for sustainable energy transitions. The paper also contributes novel empirical insights about the current extent and varieties of CaaS. Through 32 qualitative interviews across 10 countries, we identify barriers and enablers of CaaS and discuss the degree to which these vary across different sectors and geographies of CaaS. From these findings we highlight key issues with CaaS implementation. 1) The complexity of measuring CaaS adoption worldwide. 2) The significance of geographical barriers and enablers for its growth. 3) The potential for Global South leadership with CaaS.