Publications

Extreme heat is reshaping life in cities. For millions of people, especially in fast-growing urban areas of the Global South, higher temperatures are making it harder to earn a living, attend school, access healthcare, or move safely throughout the day. Extreme urban heat and lack of sustainable cooling is threatening productivity, deepening inequality, and increasing the risk of displacement when communities can no longer cope. Cities cannot afford to treat extreme heat as a seasonal inconvenience. Without action, heat will erode livelihoods and overwhelm urban infrastructure and services. It will fuel unemployment, drive internal and cross-border migration, and put massive demands on energy systems. Cities must act now to manage rising temperatures before it is too late. The Handbook on Urban Heat Management in the Global South, developed by the World Bank in partnership with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), offers a practical response. It brings together real examples and strategies from cities that are already tackling extreme heat. It focuses on powerful solutions that are feasible, affordable, and easy to adapt - especially those that expand access to accessible, sustainable cooling.

A practical framework for integrating sustainable cooling into national climate commitments. This guide provides a six-step approach for embedding sustainable cooling into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), supported by case studies and technical tools. It includes guidance on emissions assessments, target-setting, policy design, and implementation of measures such as MEPS, refrigerant phase-down, and passive cooling strategies.

An estimated 14 percent of the total food produced for human consumption is lost, while 17 per cent is wasted. This is enough to feed around 1 billion people in a world where currently 811 million people are hungry and 3 billion cannot afford a healthy diet. The lack of effective refrigeration is a leading contributor to this challenge, resulting in the loss of 12 percent of total food production, in 2017. Moreover, the food cold chain is responsible for 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, including from cold chain technologies and food loss and waste due to lack of refrigeration.

This report explores how food cold chain development can become more sustainable and makes a series of important recommendations. These include governments and other cold chain stakeholders collaborating to adopt a systems approach and develop National Cooling Action Plans, backing plans with financing and targets, implementing and enforcing ambitious minimum efficiency standards.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – a universally ratified multilateral environmental agreement – can contribute to mobilizing and scaling up solutions for delivering sustainable, efficient, and environmentally friendly cooling through its Kigali Amendment and Rome Declaration. Reducing non-CO2 emissions, including refrigerants used in cold chain technologies is key to achieve the Paris Agreement targets, as highlighted in the latest mitigation report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

At a time when the international community must act to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, sustainable food cold chains can make an important difference.

The UN Secretary-General's Call to Action on Extreme Heat brings together the diverse expertise and perspectives of ten specialized UN entities (FAO, ILO, OCHA, UNDRR, UNEP, UNESCO, UN-Habitat, UNICEF, WHO, WMO) in a first-of-its-kind joint product, underscoring the multi-sectoral impacts of extreme heat. In support of the Call to Action, the Global Heat Health Information Network launched a set of Heat Action profiles, mapping heat-related work across 16 UN and international organizations.