Cool Coalition Coordination Call: Strengthening Governance and Driving Global Cooling Action

On 18 March 2025, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Cool Coalition convened its first Membership Coordination Call for the year, bringing together over 70 representatives from governments, businesses, international organizations, and civil society. The session served as a crucial checkpoint to align governance structures, strengthen policy integration, and chart the Coalition’s path toward the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil.

At its core, the Cool Coalition is driven by the principle that collaboration drives impact. With over 130 members worldwide, it advances science, policy, finance, and technology to meet growing demand for sustainable cooling. Their work is anchored in the Global Cooling Pledge, a landmark commitment to reduce cooling-related emissions by 68% by 2050. Today, over 70 national and subnational Signatories and more than 50 institutional supporters are driving this ambition forward, accelerating progress in line with the Paris Agreement and the Kigali Amendment.

The Coalition’s Membership Calls are essential for maintaining coordination, engagement, and momentum. This latest convening reinforced a central message: with transparent governance, cross-sector collaboration, and targeted solutions, the world can achieve an ambitious yet attainable cooling transition.

Cool Coalition Global Coordinator Lily Riahi opened the session by underscoring the power of collective action in turning pledges into real-world results. “Delivering on the Pledge requires experts, leaders, and innovators across the cooling value chain to collaborate as one,” she said. Riahi acknowledged the vital contributions of the Cool Coalition Steering Committee and urged Members to engage actively in the Cool Coalition’s Working Groups, which serve as vital communities of practice for advancing sustainable cooling solutions. With COP30 fast approaching, her call to action was clear: “We’ve put cooling on the global agenda, and we have political support for the Global Cooling Pledge. Now we need to demonstrate on-the-ground implementation.”

Co-chaired by Cool Coalition Executive Committee Members, Senior Associate Director at the Clean Cooling Collaborative, Axum Teferra, and Lead Technical Advisor at the UK Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero, Graeme Maidment, the meeting began with an overview of the 2024–2026 Cool Coalition Steering Committee. Representing governments, businesses, civil society, and academia, the Steering Committee provides strategic guidance, endorses initiatives, and directs the Coalition’s overall work. “The Cool Coalition is only as strong as member engagement,” Teferra noted. “There’s a wealth of activity happening across the Coalition; we must make it visible and connected,” Maidment added, urging collective knowledge-sharing as COP30 nears.

Building on this, Cool Coalition Country Engagement and Climate Policy Lead, Amr Seleem, introduced the Intergovernmental Committee on Cooling (IGCC), an expanded governance mechanism for the Global Cooling Pledge. It evolved from the initial 18-country Contact Group that negotiated the Pledge at COP28 and will be formally adopted at COP30 to ensure all Signatories have a seat at the table. “The IGCC builds on our existing foundation, enabling a more inclusive structure to guide sustainable cooling worldwide,” Seleem explained. Over the next few months, the Cool Coalition Secretariat will finalize the IGCC’s Terms of Reference with Signatories, aiming for full operationalization in 2026.

A major thread of the session was ensuring that cooling is firmly embedded in countries’ climate strategies. Dietram Oppelt, Managing Director at HEAT, shared progress on the Guidelines for Integrating the Cooling Sector into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), developed through the Cool Coalition’s NDC Working Group. “We are in the final stages of developing the Guidelines, ensuring they are both practical and actionable,” he said. One section will focus specifically on financing, helping countries mobilize resources to scale sustainable cooling.

On the link between planning and action, Etienne Gonin, Technical Specialist at UNDP, emphasized the role of National Cooling Action Plans (NCAPs). “Tracking progress is essential—not just in developing NCAPs but ensuring they evolve, adapt, and remain actionable,” he said, citing active development across Jordan, Egypt, Türkiye, and in partnership with regional institutions in Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Ben Hartley, Programme Manager for Cooling for All at Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), reinforced the momentum behind NCAPs in countries such as Madagascar, Mozambique, and Zambia. He also highlighted heat action planning in nine Kenyan counties under subnational Global Cooling Pledge commitments. “There is a lot of opportunity to integrate access to cooling into national strategies, and we’re seeing increasing momentum from countries that recognize the urgent need to scale solutions,” Hartley said. Reflecting on SEforALL’s Global Forum in Barbados, Hartley referenced the Small Island Developing States Ministerial communique calling for rapid adoption of sustainable cooling solutions.

On the technology front, Manjeet Singh, Senior Project Specialist at the Cool Coalition, spotlighted passive cooling as a key low-cost, low-energy solution. “With extreme heat intensifying and air conditioning penetration straining power systems, passive cooling must be embedded into urban infrastructure and policy frameworks to ensure sustainable and equitable cooling solutions,” he stressed. He shared updates from Cambodia where passive cooling is being piloted with real estate developers and integrated into national policy, and Viet Nam, where partners are embedding urban cooling into regulatory frameworks. Singh also introduced the Passive Cooling Roadmap for ASEAN, developed under the Passive Cooling Working Group.

Huub Keizer, Board Member at the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction and Business Manager at TNO, emphasized urban planning as a tool for cooling. “By designing with nature, we can reduce urban temperatures by 5 to 7 degrees Celsius,” he explained, noting that new policy guidelines will be launched at COP30 to guide this shift.

On urban adaptation, Graeme Maidment shared learnings from Manchester, UK, which reached 38.9°C in 2022—record temperatures for a city unprepared for such extremes. “One of the biggest challenges is that different organizations are working in silos,” he said. The Cool Coalition’s Urban Heat Working Group is helping align approaches to strengthen city-level resilience.

Patrick Blake, Programme Manager at United for Efficiency, UNEP, provided updates on energy efficiency, noting that 49 Global Cooling Pledge Signatories have adopted Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for cooling. “Stronger efficiency standards are one of the fastest ways to cut cooling emissions,” he said. Blake also previewed Sustainable Procurement Guidelines for Data Centres and Servers, a response to the sector’s soaring energy use, up to 50% of which goes to cooling.

Closing the thematic updates, Denise San Valentin, Programme Management Officer at the Climate & Clean Air Coalition, highlighted refrigerants as a critical frontier for emissions reduction. “Without action on refrigerants, we risk undermining global cooling progress,” she warned. San Valentin showcased CCAC’s 2030 Cooling Strategy, which accelerates the shift away from high-GWP HFCs and supports refrigerant lifecycle management through the Cool Coalition LRM Working Group.

In the session on science and narratives, Xinfang Wang, Associate Professor at the Birmingham Energy Institute and Cooling Emissions Specialist at the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, outlined work from the Cooling Refrigeration Emissions and Energy Data (CREED) Working Group to standardize cooling emissions data. “Cooling is increasingly recognized as both a mitigation and adaptation strategy, yet data gaps remain a major challenge,” she said.

Ray Gluckman, Director of Gluckman Consulting and lead author of the inaugural Global Cooling Watch in 2023 shared plans for the 2025 edition. “This next edition will build on that foundation, offering refined data, new intermediate targets, and a stronger alignment with the Global Cooling Pledge,” he said. A new section will focus on extreme heat, linking rising temperatures to increased cooling demand and system inefficiency, making the case for investment in passive solutions.

Rounding out the call, Marisofi Giannouli, Communications Lead for the Cool Coalition, outlined the Coalition’s outreach plans for the year. These include the second Global Cooling Pledge Ministerial Roundtable and a high-profile Buildings and Cooling Pavilion at COP30, co-hosted with the GlobalABC. “We are expanding our COP presence to be an even bigger platform for knowledge-sharing and action,” Giannouli said. She also introduced the Cool Talks webinar series as a tool for sustaining engagement between major summits. Topics this year will include finance, passive cooling, and urban adaptation. “If your organization is interested in joining, now is the time,” she emphasized, inviting all members to contribute.

As the call concluded, co-chairs Axum Teferra and Graeme Maidment applauded the breadth of expertise shared, calling it “a testament to the Cool Coalition’s collective drive.” Reflecting on the session, Lily Riahi reaffirmed the importance of this community of practice: “It is through this community that we can provide the joint technical support and accountability needed to transform ambition into action.”