NDCs cooling guide: Guidance for integrating the cooling sector into NDCs

United Nations 1 year ago

Cooling is one of the biggest untapped opportunities to deliver climate, health, and development gains together. While the sector already contributes seven per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and could double that share by 2050, over one billion people still lack access to life-saving cooling for health, food security, and medicine. This guide supports governments in confronting this challenge by integrating sustainable cooling into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The NDC Cooling Guidelines offer a six-stage, step-by-step framework, supported by country case studies, to help policymakers assess hydrofluorocarbon and energy-related emissions, set sector-specific targets, and develop fully costed National Cooling Action Plans (NCAPs). The Guidelines emphasize Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS), Kigali-compliant refrigerant phase-down, passive and nature-based solutions, as well as climate-responsive urban planning. These actions are underpinned by cross-ministerial coordination, a robust Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system to track progress, and a strong focus on expanding equitable access. Together, they enable countries to integrate cooling measures into both adaptation and mitigation pathways. The NDC Cooling Guidelines were developed collaboratively by the UNEP Cool Coalition NDC Working Group, with contributions from the American University in Cairo; Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC); Clean Cooling Collaborative (CCC); Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP); Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Proklima; the Ozone Secretariat; Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL); United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC); and UNEP United for Efficiency (U4E).
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layersDaily Sustainability Digest

Published about 7 hours ago



The past quarter has marked a decisive turn for sustainable construction as regulatory and financial frameworks push towards measurable outcomes. The EU Deforestation Regulation now extends accountability across supply chains, compelling developers to verify the provenance of timber and other renewable building materials aligned with environmental sustainability in construction. The latest Environmental Performance Index exposes how far most nations remain from achieving net zero carbon and fully certifiable net zero Whole Life Carbon buildings, sharpening global focus on embodied carbon and the carbon footprint of construction.

Green finance guidance from the Green Finance Institute and WWF reinforces this transition by embedding biodiversity metrics and Whole Life Carbon Assessment into project reporting. Sustainable building design is now inextricably linked to fiduciary responsibility, with investors demanding verified lifecycle assessment data and credible environmental product declarations (EPDs). The incorporation of Life Cycle Cost appraisal and life cycle thinking in construction establishes a unified model where resource efficiency and circular construction strategies define investor confidence.

Operational resilience remains pivotal. Research on the inefficiencies of legacy financial systems underscores that decarbonising the built environment depends not only on low carbon design and low embodied carbon materials but also on digital workflows that enhance building lifecycle performance. The industry’s embrace of eco-design for buildings, Circular Economy in construction, and sustainable building practices signals a shift from aspiration to implementation.

Across markets, the environmental impact of construction and governance failures continue to test trust in green infrastructure. As scrutiny intensifies, sustainable design and carbon neutral construction are emerging as baselines rather than aspirations. The next phase of sustainable urban development will be defined by Whole Life Carbon transparency, robust BREEAM and BREEAM V7 frameworks, and quantifiable progress toward circular economy models that anchor low carbon building performance in verifiable data.

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