Cooling demand is among the fastest-growing sources of electricity consumption worldwide. In many regions, it is already shaping peak load growth and long-term power system investment, while billions still lack adequate thermal comfort.
National Cooling Action Plans (NCAPs) are emerging as a core policy instrument to align access, efficiency, and emissions trajectories. Well-designed plans integrate building performance, appliance standards, refrigerant transition, urban form, and energy planning within a coherent national framework. The next generation of NCAPs must move beyond isolated measures and position building energy efficiency and passive cooling as structural pillars of development and energy security.
To address these challenges in high-ambient temperature regions, a contextualised NCAP methodology for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was developed by the UNEP Cool Coalition in partnership with the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE). Its development was made possible through financial support from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).
MENA faces some of the highest projected cooling demand growth globally, driven by urbanisation, rising temperatures, and income growth. Without decisive action, inefficient building stock and escalating grid stress risk becoming locked in for decades. The methodology outlines governance coordination, cross-ministerial alignment, and pathways from strategy to investment pipelines.
This Cool Talk will examine how regionally tailored NCAPs can function as implementation frameworks that expand access, manage peak demand and anchor long-term energy and climate strategies in regions most exposed to extreme heat.
