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 4 hours ago



Britain’s sustainable construction agenda is shifting from aspiration to measurable delivery, with regulation, subsidy and data quality now shaping decarbonising the built environment. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme has supported a 24% rise in monthly heat-pump installations, strengthening demand for energy-efficient buildings and low carbon building upgrades. Simple, generous incentives are proving effective where net zero carbon policies have often struggled to convert ambition into consumer action.

Planning reform is raising the stakes for environmental sustainability in construction. The Office for Environmental Protection has warned that proposed Environmental Development Plans may not guarantee promised biodiversity gains, underlining the need for credible evidence, green infrastructure and enforceable sustainable building practices. Nature-positive development will need robust lifecycle assessment, sustainable material specification and clear accountability if it is to support genuine sustainable urban development rather than faster consent with weaker scrutiny.

Digital systems are becoming central to whole life carbon performance.

Open data, interoperable workflows and human-led AI are increasingly necessary for whole life carbon assessment, embodied carbon reporting, life cycle cost analysis and building lifecycle performance.

Sustainable building design, low carbon design and eco-design for buildings depend on reliable information from concept through construction and operation. The sector cannot deliver net zero carbon buildings, net zero whole life carbon or credible carbon footprint reduction while data remains locked in proprietary silos.

The next phase of green construction will be judged by evidence on embodied carbon in materials, the carbon footprint of construction, resource efficiency in construction and end-of-life reuse in construction. Low carbon construction materials, low embodied carbon materials, green building materials and environmental product declarations (EPDs) will be essential to circular economy in construction. Circular construction strategies, renewable building materials and life cycle thinking in construction are moving from best practice to commercial necessity as clients, regulators and assessment frameworks such as BREEAM and BREEAM v7 place greater weight on verified outcomes.

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