Background

The Global Cooling Watch is UNEP’s biennial flagship publication on sustainable cooling. Its inaugural edition in 2023 established a critical baseline, showing how global cooling demand is accelerating, and how passive strategies, energy efficiency, and refrigerant transition could cut cooling-related emissions by over 60 percent by 2050 while expanding access to vital cooling services.

The second edition, Global Cooling Watch 2025, revisits those trends in the context of mounting extreme heat and deepening inequalities in access. It introduces new frameworks, including the Sustainable Cooling Hierarchy and Tiered Access Framework, to guide more equitable and integrated responses across sectors. The report also serves as a scientific foundation for the implementation of the Global Cooling Pledge, providing countries with data-driven pathways to align cooling interventions with climate, development, and resilience goals.

Objectives

• Present the findings of Global Cooling Watch 2025, highlighting the scale of the sustainable cooling challenge and opportunity, and framing cooling as both a climate and development priority.
• Elevate the issue of extreme heat, and its link to cooling access, resilience, and social equity, particularly in cities and vulnerable communities.
• Introduce new tools and frameworks to support policymakers, including the Sustainable Cooling Hierarchy and the Tiered Access Framework.
• Link the report to the Global Cooling Pledge, showcasing how its recommendations can support countries in meeting their commitments through national planning, investment, and partnerships.
• Build momentum for implementation, by engaging governments, cities, industry, and finance leaders on actions needed to move from commitment to delivery.

Agenda

Resources