The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Women have renewed their partnership to promote inclusive renewable energy and passive cooling policies and actions across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. Building on the efforts of the EmPower: Women for Climate-Resilient Societies (EmPower) Programme and the UNEP Cool Coalition, this partnership aims to address the growing challenge of extreme heat and rising energy demand for sustainable cooling in the region.

Populations most affected by extreme heat

Low-income communities are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat due to inadequate housing, limited access to cooling and greater exposure to heat in domestic and occupational settings. Heat stress has also been linked to higher rates of miscarriages among women. This is why inclusive and sustainable cooling solutions are essential to mitigating these risks while promoting resilience and social equity.

Countries across the ASEAN region share similarities in architecture and urbanization, often featuring densely populated urban centres and evolving tropical design trends. While traditional tropical architecture prioritizes passive cooling strategies, modern urban development—characterized by glass facades, limited ventilation, and heat-retaining materials—has led to higher cooling demand. These factors drive higher cooling demand and exacerbate climate vulnerability as extreme heat intensifies, underscoring the need for viable solutions tailored to the region’s unique environmental and cultural contexts.

Building on ongoing efforts

Since 2022, UNEP and UN Women, through the EmPower Programme, have focused on embedding approaches that focus on women and girls’ needs in the energy transition. The work has included strengthening the technical capacities of ASEAN Member States and supporting the development of the Roadmap on Accelerating ASEAN Renewable Energy Deployment through Gender-Responsive Energy Policy. The Roadmap prioritizes gender equality and social inclusion in renewable energy policy planning, with an emphasis on strengthening the collection and application of sex- and age-disaggregated data.

Additionally, UNEP and UN Women have contributed to integrating just transition principles into the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation 2026–2030 (APAEC), ensuring that regional energy policies reflect inclusive and equitable development priorities.

New areas of collaboration

A key expansion of the renewed EmPower and Cool Coalition partnership will be the development of a new “Roadmap for Passive Cooling in the ASEAN Region: An Inclusive Heat-Resilience Approach” under the Cool Coalition framework, to be published later this year. This initiative will provide strategic guidance to ASEAN Member States on how to apply a gender lens to targeted policy interventions, investment planning, governance mechanisms and technology solutions. The roadmap will integrate best environmental and social practices into regional cooling strategies, reinforcing UNEP’s commitment to sustainable and gender-sensitive cooling solutions. The development of the roadmap will be guided by the Cool Coalition – Global ABC joint Passive Cooling Working Group and its members, including regional partners.

The potential of passive cooling strategies

The UN Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat was issued on 25 July 2024, calling for an urgent and concerted effort to enhance international cooperation to address extreme heat.

Passive cooling strategies use natural processes to provide thermal comfort while reducing reliance on active cooling systems. According to the Global Cooling Watch 2023, these strategies could reduce the projected cooling demand for 2050 by 24 per cent, saving up to USD $3 trillion in capital costs from avoided new cooling equipment and cutting emissions by 1.3 billion tons of CO2e.

Simple design choices can significantly lower indoor temperatures. Reflective roofs and cool materials minimize heat absorption, well-placed windows enhance natural ventilation, and shading elements like green facades or extended eaves help reduce solar heat gain. When integrated into urban planning and building codes, these solutions not only lower cooling demand but also create more comfortable and resilient living environments.

A key focus of the report is the need to protect urban populations, including poor vulnerable communities, from extreme heat through the use of passive cooling strategies in urban built spaces in the ASEAN region to promote climate-friendly cooling while maximizing social, economic and environmental benefits.

The Passive Cooling Roadmap will serve to advance these goals, as well as to implement the UN Secretary-General’s “Call to Action on Extreme Heat” as well as the subsectoral roadmap for the “Roadmap for Energy-efficient Buildings and Construction in ASEAN” by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC).