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Avatar 1: What topics should we cover first?
We are living in an increasingly warming world. According to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2020 was the hottest year on record, with the average global surface temperature around 1.3 degrees Celsius (°C) higher than the late 19th-century average – despite the absence of the short-term warming effect of El Niño (Barbosa 2021). The seven-year period from 2014 to 2020 was the hottest in 140 years of record keeping. This, researchers say, is a clear indicator of the ever-increasing impact of greenhouse gas emissions.
BARRIERS TO SUSTAINABLE URBAN COOLING
The key barriers to holistic and sustainable urban cooling practices can be distilled into the following five: 1) lack of awareness, 2) lack of supportive policies and regulation, 3) financial barriers, 4) limited institutional capacities and 5) complexity of the solution set. These are explained as follows.
LACK OF AWARENESS
While rising urban temperatures have started to shake the systemic indifference to the urban heat island phenomenon, general awareness about its causes and inter-relation with urban infrastructure and anthropogenic heat remains low.
FINANCIAL BARRIERS
Financial barriers apply across the breadth of the stakeholder groups – from consumers to implementers. These barriers are rooted in, as well as perpetuate, underlying market behaviours, which include:
First-cost bias: An overarching market characteristic that has impacted sustainable cooling practices is that the decisions made by those specifying and procuring infrastructure, buildings and cooling systems are typically made with a focus on the first- cost. This skews decisions away from sustainable cooling options that typically have a higher first-cost but lower life-cycle cost due to lower operating costs. This first-cost bias is further reinforced by insufficient awareness or transparency of the broad benefits of sustainable cooling practices, lack of clarity or understanding of their lower life-cycle costs, or a general lack of awareness of the available options and their applicability. Without awareness of the longer- term benefits of efficiency and sustainable urban cooling options and transparency of the benefits, there is little or no demand.
The focus on first-cost is more prevalent with infrequent buyers, such as residential consumers, but is often reinforced by policy with professional buyers who may be compelled to procure the lowest first- cost conforming bid. First-cost bias is particularly prevalent in developing countries where affordability is an important consideration and there may be competing priorities for the cash-in-hand. At times, even when there may be awareness that the overall costs are lower over time, the combination of upfront affordability, high discount rates (implicit or stated) and lack of financing drives the buyer to the lowest first-cost option.
Split incentives: Often, the developers (or purchasers, in the case of cooling equipment) are not responsible for the long-term use and associated energy bills of a building or development. They therefore are rarely motivated, unless specifically incentivized, to pursue passive cooling measures in buildings or energy efficiency in cooling equipment – options that typically come at a higher first-cost. This further reinforces the first-cost bias in the sustainable cooling sector.
Lack of financial resources can pose a challenge for municipal government initiatives towards sustainable cooling. Also, a lack of fit-for-purpose financing can hinder developers, facility owners and consumers from opting for the usually higher first-cost energy-efficient buildings or sustainable cooling equipment (further reinforcing the first-cost bias).
Fit-for-purpose financing refers to financing structured to meet the specific market needs for affordable financing of sustainable cooling interventions. These market needs can include a need to enhance credit risk through securitization, address performance risk in relation to the realization of savings, provide appropriate accounting characterization of the financing, and mitigate split incentives by matching the flow of benefits with the obligation of loan repayment. Cities can enable public and private adoption of sustainable urban cooling practices at the level of the building and for equipment, but it is often much more challenging to do the same with city-scale or public infrastructure, where the benefits are diffused and dispersed. That is, public investment (in green spaces or cool pavement, for example) yields downstream benefits (for building occupants or the healthcare system, for example) that can be incredibly challenging to trace or design financing mechanisms around.
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Quick pause here — we’re talking heat action with some powerful insights from the Climate Central as well as the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and the World Weather Attribution.
Their Extreme Heat Initiatives seriously open your eyes.
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Absolutely. Their approach is setting new standards for handling heat. You’re listening to EGreenews Conversations, naturally. Now, back to what you asked.
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So much info coming your way, huh?
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Actually, it’s more like a bunch of questions! Ready to get started?
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Yeah, but how exactly should I begin?
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Try following Hugi Hernandez, the founder of Egreenews. You might find him on LinkedIn or at egreenews dot org.
Avatar 1 :
Thanks for sharing that! I will write it down today!
Adaptation measures alone will become increasingly insufficient to protect communities from the escalating risks.
Avatar 1:
Quick pause here — we’re talking heat action with some powerful insights from the Climate Central as well as the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and the World Weather Attribution.
Their Extreme Heat Initiatives seriously open your eyes.
Avatar 2:
Absolutely. Their approach is setting new standards for handling heat. You’re listening to EGreenews Conversations, naturally. Now, back to what you asked.
Avatar 1: Ever notice there’s always a catch to learning new stuff?
Avatar 2: For sure! Not enough data, not the whole story—always missing something.
Avatar 1: True, but it’s more about curiosity—finding new views from experts or what we experience.
Avatar 2: Yep, mixing expert advice with real life makes it click.
Avatar 1: It can get overwhelming, though.
Avatar 2: Definitely. With so much out there, picking a place to start is tough.
Avatar 1: If you want to dig into heat resilience, check the Climate Central and of course the work from the UNITED NATIONS!
Avatar 2: Great call. I’m a fan of The and the World Weather Attribution—super innovative.
Avatar 1: And the as well as the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre has loads of helpful heat safety info.
Avatar 2: Right, but people move things forward. Like Hugi Hernandez at Egreenews.org—he keeps climate talk creative.
Avatar 1: There’s a whole network building solutions. Egreenews is launching new hubs, like eDisaster, so you can learn risk and resilience 24/7.
Avatar 2: That’s awesome. Whether learning or connecting, there’s inspiration everywhere. LinkedIn’s packed with changemakers too.
Avatar 1: So—want to start? These talks matter. Together, we prep our communities for disaster.
Avatar 2: I’m in. Stick around—we’ll compare heat with other weather and what that means for leaders.
Avatar 1: Hey, seriously, gracias a montón for being here today — really means a lot!
Avatar 2: Yeah, thanks so much for sticking with us! ¡Hasta luego, everybody! Catch you all next time for sure.
Avatar 1: Totally my pleasure. See you soon! Ciao, sayonara, and... you know, just take care till then!
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