A Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities
Beating the Heat: A Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities was launched on November 3rd 2021 at COP26 by the Cool Coalition, UNEP, RMI, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), Mission Innovation and Clean Cooling Collaborative.
A Report Summary.
By Zmary Gharwal.
Co-Founder of Housing4Europe.Org
They forgot Affordable Housing as a measure! Sad but true.
Cities are particularly affected by global warming, warns the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP): By the end of the century, they will heat up more than twice as much as the planet on average. A new UNEP handbook on urban planning is intended to help reduce and avoid urban heat islands.
Cities could get up to 4.4 degrees Celsius warmer on average by the end of the century, warns UNEP. Progressive urbanization and ever-growing cities will increase the problem of urban heat islands, with “catastrophic consequences” for health, climate, infrastructure, and the economy. Cities in the Global South and low-income neighborhoods in affluent countries are particularly affected: Most of the 1.6 billion people who, according to UNEP figures, will have to contend with average summer temperatures above 35 degrees by 2050 will live in them.
Vicious circle: heat drives cooling drives heat
Without targeted measures and market intervention, this would lead to a vicious circle: rising purchasing power in the south and growing affluence of the middle classes would increase the demand for inexpensive air conditioning units, but these mostly inefficient entry-level units will continue to heat cities with their waste heat – which in turn will increase even more The need for cooling leads to increased energy consumption and more emissions.
“The new guide offers planners an encyclopaedia of proven options to help cool cities. The guide’s 80 supporting case studies and examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the strategies outlined and can help cities find an approach best suited to their unique contexts.”
