Launched at the First Global Conference on Synergies between the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement, the Cool Coalition was assembled by UNEP with the belief that a unified effort of governments, cities, businesses, and civil society that share the objective of advancing, sustainable cooling will be more effective in bringing about change than acting alone.
The Cool Coalition’s 130 plus members are collaborating on science, policy, finance, and technology to meet growing demands for sustainable cooling in a comprehensive manner, all aimed at raising climate ambition in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals while complimenting the goals of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and Paris Climate Agreement.
The Cool Coalition and COP28 UAE Presidency launched the Global Cooling Pledge at COP28, with nearly 70 government signatories and more than 50 supporters from international organizations, international finance institutions and industry. The Global Cooling Pledge marks the world’s first collective effort to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions from the sector. The Pledge aims to reduce global cooling-related emissions by 68 per cent by 2050, improve energy efficiency of cooling technologies by 50 per cent by 2030 and to increase access to sustainable cooling for the most vulnerable – all of which is needed to keep the 1.5°C goal in reach.
The Cool Coalition aims to raise the importance of energy efficiency at the global level by bringing together its members, and by adding energy efficiency commitments to the Global Cooling Pledge. It also promotes energy efficiency by integrating sustainable cooling targets through National Cooling Action Plans and Heat Action Plans in cities.
UNEP’s Cool Coalition is promoting sustainable cooling in countries around the world, including in India
Under the framework of the Cool Coalition, UNEP and the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) – in partnership with India’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) – are developing a programme to sustainably cool India’s cities. Drawing on best practices from around the world, the programme will deliver on-the-ground support to help cities “Beat the Heat.”
The climate crisis has already hit India hard, causing huge economic and social losses in recent years. India’s cities are particularly at risk due to extreme heat, as rising temperatures are exacerbated by urban heat island effects and unequal access to cooling. Left unchecked, this heat could expose up to 200 million people in India to lethal heat waves in the 2030s, reduce India’s GDP by 2 per cent, cause the loss of 34 million jobs, and make it that much harder for millions of people to escape poverty.
Yet India’s cities cannot just air condition a way out of this extreme heat crisis. Best practices from India and around the world show that Indian cities need to take a whole-systems approach to urban cooling in order to solve their cooling challenges and increase their heat resilience. UNEP and RMI in partnership with MoHUA and its National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) have established an urban cooling programme to help Indian cities take comprehensive action on extreme heat and rising cooling demand. The programme will provide technical assistance to cities to incorporate solutions at multiple scales – from the city-wide scale down to neighbourhoods, buildings, and households.
