District cooling is a modern, energy-efficient method to cool a network of buildings in a city or on a college campus. Large, highly efficient, industrial-grade equipment is housed in central cooling plants, producing chilled water for distribution to customer buildings through an insulated underground piping network. Coldwater supply enters the building and passes through a heat exchanger, absorbing heat from the interior before returning to the central plant via a closed-loop return line. According to BlueQuark Research & Consulting, the global District Cooling market is expected to witness a significant growth rate during the forecasted period. Factors like the increasing use of District Cooling in the commercial sector, the district cooling system can achieve cost savings of 5 to 10 times that of a traditional cooling system, are expected to drive the global market. Further, in the residential sector, the district cooling network uses heat exchangers at user buildings to supply cold to customers such as residential buildings, houses, and other buildings are projected to drive the global market. Furthermore, in the industrial sector, district cooling usage in industries ensures that processes do not overheat equipment or products driving the global market. However, the release of cooling water has a significant environmental impact. The impacts are induced by heat emissions, conditioning chemical discharges, and chemical pollution from the operation. These effects harm surface water quality and are expected to hinder global market growth.

Chilled water is distributed to offices, retail malls, apartments, and other structures that require interior cooling through district cooling. The cooling station distributes chilled water supply to buildings through the district cooling network.

The Middle East and Africa are expected to be the leader in producing and consuming District Cooling, with most consumption in countries like UAE and Qatar. District Cooling demand increases in the commercial sector due to increasing urbanization. In a district cooling system, cold water is utilized, and it comes from natural sources like seawater. It can be generated from waste heat using steam turbine-driven, absorption chillers, or electric chillers, thus driving the global District Cooling market. The UAE market for district cooling is now the largest in the Gulf, with 4.03 million RT anticipated in 2017 and expected to reach 6.88 million RT by 2025. The United Arab Emirates is home to many significant players in the Gulf region's district cooling sector. By 2030, Dubai intends district cooling to account for 40% of the total cooling supply. In the residential sector, District Cooling has chilled beams put in the building zones that can transfer coldness to the cooling coils that help to cool the supply air in the air handling units, driving the global District Cooling market. In the industrial sector, industrial applications, such as food preparation could also benefit from district cooling, driving the global market. The mentioned factors have made the Middle East and Africa an important region for growth in the District Cooling Market.

Some of the market's key players are Engie SA, National Central Cooling Company PJSC, Ramboll, Keppel DHCS Pte Ltd, Emicool LLC, among others.

In February 2022, The Egyptian Company for Energy and Cooling Projects (Gascool), along with National Central Cooling Company PJSC and Marakez for Real Estate Investment Company, have signed a collaboration of District cooling services that will be provided to the new D5M mall in New Katameya, east Cairo.

In March 2021, Emirates District Cooling LLC, the region's premier district cooling service provider and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai Investments, has announced the completion of its state-of-the-art District Cooling Plant (DCP) at Expo 2020 Dubai. The plant's first phase will offer chilled water cooling to sites throughout the event, including the RTA station, Conference & Exhibition Centre, and EXPO village.

The Global District Cooling Market report provides deep insight into the Industrial market's current and future state across various regions. The study comprehensively analyses the District Cooling market by segmenting based on the By Technique (Free cooling, Centrifugal Chillers, Electric Chillers, Absorption Cooling, Others), By End User (Commercial, Residential, Industrial, Others), and Geography (Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, South America, and Middle-East and Africa). The report examines the market drivers and restraints and the impact of Covid-19 on the market growth in detail. The study covers and includes emerging market trends, developments, opportunities, and challenges in the industry. This report also covers extensively researched competitive landscape sections with prominent companies and profiles, including their market shares and projects.