Global Cooling Pledge

United Nations 3 years ago

The Global Cooling Pledge provides an opportunity to commit to sustainable cooling with concrete actions. An initiative of the United Arab Emirates as host of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), the Pledge is one of nine non-negotiated declarations, pledges, and charters that constitute key outcomes for the COP28 Presidential Action Agenda.  It aims to raise ambition and international cooperation through collective global targets to reduce cooling related emissions by 68% from today by 2050, significantly increase access to sustainable cooling by 2030, and increase the global average efficiency of new air conditioners by 50%. The emission targets draw on the modelling from the UNEP Cool Coalition report Global Cooling Watch 2023 Keeping it Chill: How to meet cooling demands while cutting emissions. Below are the list of countries that have pledged to the Global Cooling Pledge: Antigua and Barbuda,  Armenia Belgium Bhutan Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Cambodia Canada Chad Chile Comoros Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominican Republic El Salvador Eswatini Ethiopia France Germany Ghana Japan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kyrgyzstan Lebanon Maldives Micronesia Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Nepal Netherlands Nicaragua Nigeria North Macedonia Norway Palau Panama Peru Rwanda Saint Lucia Serbia Sierra Leone Singapore Solomon Islands Somalia Spain Sri Lanka Syrian Arab Republic Thailand Togo Tunisia United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States of America Uruguay Vietnam Zimbabwe
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layersDaily Sustainability Digest

Published about 8 hours ago



Lower-carbon product systems are moving from sustainability claims into industrial-scale sustainable construction. Holcim’s circular roofing line in Heinsberg, Germany, will recycle production scrap into raw material for up to 12m sq metres of membrane, strengthening the case for circular economy in construction, resource efficiency in construction and end-of-life reuse in construction. Roofing, insulation and membranes are no longer peripheral to environmental sustainability in construction: their volume, replacement cycles and material intensity make them central to whole life carbon, embodied carbon and the carbon footprint of construction.

Low carbon construction materials are also gaining traction in major urban schemes. The use of ECOPact low-carbon concrete in Casablanca’s Casa Anfa development shows how green construction and low carbon building strategies are being tested beyond pilot projects. The market still needs stronger transparency on embodied carbon in materials, environmental product declarations (EPDs), lifecycle assessment and whole life carbon assessment. Without comparable data, clients cannot reliably judge whether green building products deliver genuine carbon footprint reduction, improved building lifecycle performance or credible progress towards net zero whole life carbon.

Climate resilience is becoming inseparable from sustainable building design. Forecasts of an exceptionally hot El Niño year in 2027 reinforce the need for low carbon design, eco-design for buildings and energy-efficient buildings that reduce overheating risk while limiting life cycle cost. Heat-reflecting, lower-impact insulation and other low embodied carbon materials will be increasingly important in sustainable material specification, particularly in temperate markets facing more severe summer conditions.

DNV’s projection that global net zero may not be reached until the 2090s sharpens the commercial case for net zero carbon buildings, carbon neutral construction and sustainable urban development that can withstand a hotter, more volatile climate. BREEAM, BREEAM v7 and wider sustainable building practices will face growing scrutiny as clients demand evidence of net zero carbon performance, whole life carbon assessment and circular construction strategies. The strongest businesses in decarbonising the built environment will be those able to prove circular economy outcomes, low-impact construction, renewable building materials and measurable embodied carbon reductions at scale.

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