Sustainable cooling must be prioritised as part of efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the UN has said in a report published at the COP30 climate talks in Brazil.
The message was delivered in the city of Belém on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, where delegates from almost 200 countries are attending the climate summit.
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen told a news conference that cooling was vital.
It must be treated as an essential piece of infrastructure — alongside water, energy and sanitation — because it saves lives and keeps economies and schools and hospitals running, Andersen said.
However, the UNEP executive director warned that an over-reliance on conventional air conditioning would worsen the heat crisis.
“If we do that, then we would just drive up greenhouse gases, raise costs, cause grid overload and essentially peak demand,” she said.
The UN official called for energy-efficient solutions, including smart buildings, affordable cooling and urban design that lowers the carbon footprint of cooling.
UN warns cooling emissions to double by 2050
The UN report’s launch coincided with the announcement of the Mutirão Contra o Calor Extremo, the Beat the Heat initiative.
The programme, which is led by the Brazil COP30 presidency and UNEP, aims to boost extreme heat resilience.
Ruth Do Coutto, the UN Environment Agency’s deputy director for climate change, warned that emissions from cooling are rising and could double by 2050 without sustainable practices.
“Unfortunately, as you can see, the more we cool, the more we emit. So, cooling emissions are growing and will double by 2050 if we do not adopt more sustainable cooling practices,” Do Coutto said.
“However, what the report has shown us is that there is a pathway, it is called the sustainable cooling pathway, that demonstrates that we can meet this demand for cooling that we all need while cutting emissions if we implement measures together,” she added.
Protesters confront security at talks venue
In other COP30 developments, a group of activists clashed with security on Tuesday night as they attempted to push their way into the main venue of the UN climate talks.
It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was hurt in the incident, but at least four ambulances stood outside the venue in its aftermath.