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 9 hours ago

Sustainable construction is moving from flagship green construction projects to the systems that determine real building lifecycle performance. Forecasts that the next clean-power auction could reduce wholesale electricity costs by £11bn by 2050 strengthen the business case for net zero carbon buildings, heat pumps, electric plant and low carbon building operations. Ofgem’s action to deter speculative battery-grid applications is equally material: decarbonising the built environment depends on disciplined grid connections as much as sustainable building design.

The sector’s focus is shifting towards whole life carbon, embodied carbon and whole life carbon assessment rather than narrow design intent.

Pumps, controls and digital building management systems are becoming central to energy-efficient buildings, life cycle cost reduction and net zero whole life carbon outcomes. This is where sustainable design must become measurable performance, supported by lifecycle assessment, life cycle thinking in construction and reliable operational data.

Climate adaptation is now a core issue for environmental sustainability in construction. Kew and the Royal Parks are revising planting and watering strategies as hotter, drier summers reshape London’s public realm. Developers, designers and local authorities will need green infrastructure, sustainable urban development and eco-design for buildings that keep places shaded, resilient and maintainable under climate stress. Resilience can no longer sit outside whole life carbon assessment or be treated as a landscape afterthought.

Post-Grenfell reform reinforces that sustainability in construction cannot be reduced to carbon metrics alone. The golden thread of building information, product accountability and competent delivery is essential to retrofit, reuse and circular economy principles. Unsafe longevity is not sustainable architecture; it increases the environmental impact of construction by locking in future remediation, waste and risk.

The next phase of sustainable building practices will be judged by proof of performance: embodied carbon in materials, carbon footprint of construction, resource efficiency in construction, sustainable material specification and credible environmental product declarations (EPDs). Low embodied carbon materials, circular economy in construction, end-of-life reuse in construction and circular construction strategies will matter more than aesthetic claims. Awards for civic and environmental ambition remain influential, but the market is moving towards verifiable low carbon design, breeam, breeam v7 and construction outcomes that stand up across the full building lifecycle.

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