In November 2025, the world’s attention will turn to Belém, Brazil, as nations gather for the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30). Set in the heart of the Amazon, the conference will unfold against the backdrop of both immense ecological significance and deepening climate risk. With global temperatures pushing past 1.5°C and a cascade of impacts threatening lives and economies, this COP carries a dual weight: it is both a moment of reflection, marking 10 years since the Paris Agreement and 20 years since the Kyoto Protocol, and one of deeper reckoning with what is still needed.

Cooling is no longer a future issue but a front-line climate challenge. The way we design, retrofit, and regulate buildings will determine whether we stay on course to meet climate targets or fall behind. As heat extremes intensify, so does the urgency to ensure that communities everywhere have access to solutions that are sustainable, efficient, and equitable.

One pavilion, two priorities

At COP30, the UNEP Cool Coalition and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) will co-host the Buildings and Cooling Pavilion, continuing a joint effort that began in Dubai and has gained momentum through each successive COP.

Positioned in the Blue Zone, the Buildings and Cooling Pavilion will serve as a space for exchange, solutions, and ambition. It will unite voices from across the built environment and cooling sectors, from national governments and international agencies to city leaders, startups, engineers, and financiers. The Pavilion will highlight how buildings and cooling intersect across mitigation, adaptation, and development priorities in the global climate agenda. The Pavilion has been officially endorsed by Brazil’s Ministry of Cities, further underscoring the host country’s commitment to integrating sustainable buildings and cooling into national and subnational climate action.

This year’s theme, “Creating Resilient Communities with Better Buildings, Sustainable Cooling, and Smarter Materials,” reflects the Pavilion’s central message: that how we construct and cool our world is fundamental to how we survive and thrive on an increasingly warming planet.

What to expect in Belém

The Buildings and Cooling Pavilion brings together two powerful agendas:

  • building decarbonisation, championed by GlobalABC, through net-zero strategies, materials innovation, policy alignment, and investment pathways; and

  • sustainable cooling, advanced by the Cool Coalition, through access, efficiency, refrigerant transition, and systems-level integration.

Together, they form a platform for solutions that cut across mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.

The Pavilion will host an ambitious programme of high-level dialogues, technical sessions, interactive exhibits, and key announcements, including the launch of flagship publications and new partnerships designed to accelerate national implementation.

Participants or members of GlobalABC/Cool Coalition can now:

  • Become a sponsor.

  • Submit proposals to book a session of a full 90-minute event or a 30-minute pitch format, hosted in the morning or afternoon blocks. 

Interested stakeholders can become a member of the GlobalABC or the Cool Coalition to engage in the Pavilion and other strategic opportunities.

Please note that you will receive feedback on your session proposal from mid-July 2025 onwards. The GlobalABC and Cool Coalition will review all submissions and may propose adjustments regarding session date and time allocation, partner organizations, or the consolidation of similar proposals based on thematic alignment.

Join a space where global priorities meet practical solutions, and where partnerships turn into progress! Deadline for submissions is 30 June 2025. 

Why This COP matters more than ever

The choice of Belém, right on the edge of one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions, sends a clear message. The Amazon is a tipping point not just ecologically, but symbolically. COP30 is expected to set a new tone for international ambition and cooperation, especially on issues like sustainable cooling that cut across sectors, geographies, and equity lines.

The recent appointment of Dan Ioschpe as Brazil’s Climate High-Level Champion reinforces the COP30 Presidency’s commitment to bringing industrial leadership into the climate conversation. As Chairman of the Board of Iochspe-Maxion, and a key figure across Brazil’s manufacturing and business networks, Ioschpe’s involvement is aimed at bridging technical policy with real-world implementation.

This comes at a critical moment, as countries prepare the third iteration of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 3.0). With sustainable cooling increasingly recognized as both a mitigation and adaptation strategy, the Pavilion aims to help mainstream it across national and subnational climate planning, as well as to elevate how the built environment is integrated into climate plans and investment strategies.

Meanwhile, the GlobalABC continues to drive the buildings agenda forward through the Chaillot Declaration, endorsed by over 60 countries as a shared framework to accelerate climate action in the sector. Its recently released Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2024/2025 shows that, while emissions from the sector have finally plateaued, progress remains too slow to meet global climate goals, reinforcing the need for faster implementation, stronger policies, and increased financing across the built environment.

The Cool Coalition is advancing global action on cooling through the Global Cooling Pledge, which now includes commitments from 72 countries to reduce cooling-related emissions by 68% by 2050. Whether through integrated urban strategies, super-efficient appliances, or sustainable refrigerant transitions, the work ahead is as urgent as it is achievable.