Avatar 1: hellou there and Welcome to our EGreenNews Conversations.!
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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.
KEY INTERVENTION PATHWAYS FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN COOLING
More often than not, a combination of barriers will be at play in any city, with inter-related effects. Thus, addressing the cooling challenges in cities effectively requires a multipronged approach – one that combines policies and regulations that spur demand for sustainable urban cooling with financial instruments, awareness-building and capacity-building that facilitate the supply for addressing the demand. Furthermore, the city’s response should be rooted in the whole-system approach and tailored to local realities.
Typically, the city interventions to advance sustainable urban cooling would fall within three broad categories, described as follows:
Control strategies: By leveraging the authority of city governments – such as decisions on urban planning and infrastructure investments – interventions in this category are designed to directly control and steer actions that lead to sustainable urban cooling. Typical interventions include city-wide legislation, regulation, planning and standards.
Combination strategies: Combination strategies, in the context of this report, are interventions where cities may not have full and direct control but can apply partial or modified control, and these generally also include a facilitative or influencing aspect. One such intervention is cities leading by example through beyond-code efficiency mandates for city- occupied buildings. This is considered a combination strategy because it applies not just to the city-owned portfolio but also to city-leased buildings (through procuring and directing to these efficiency levels for the leased buildings). This intervention also intends to demonstrate benefits and may in turn influence broader market confidence and adoption of more efficient buildings and cooling practices.
Facilitative strategies: Facilitative strategies enable cities to influence or facilitate actions towards sustainable urban cooling, such as through raising mass awareness, helping develop financial instruments to spur demand, and helping build capacity to meet demand. These strategies help
amplify the impact of control and combination measures, and help re-enforce the actions generally regulated at the national or state level (such as product labelling or minimum performance standards for cooling equipment).
These intervention strategies apply across the three areas underpinning the whole-system approach – reduce heat at the urban scale, reduce cooling needs in buildings and serve cooling needs in buildings efficiently. However, the scope and range of interventions that are available to cities within each of the areas will vary, given the constraints of state or national regulation (see figure 3.1).
Many of the interventions in the “reduce heat at the urban scale” category are “control” strategies, because decisions for urban planning and infrastructure – such as zoning statutes, urban planning regulations for mitigating heat islands, transport planning and mandates for green cover – are generally within the purview of city governments. This category also includes “combination” measures, with a key example being district cooling systems, which are typically public sector enabled but public/private or private sector deployed.
In the “reduce cooling needs in buildings” category, the interventions are generally “combination” strategies. For instance, while working within the state or national regulatory framework, cities can adopt and enforce (implying modified control) building energy codes and disclosure ordinances and evaluate the opportunity to adopt more stringent requirements (referred to as beyond code or stretch code) city-wide or specific to development zones within the city.
Much in the category of “serve cooling needs in buildings efficiently” – other than enabling district cooling systems where viable – lies outside of the direct control of cities and generally is regulated at the national or state level (such as energy performance standards for cooling appliances). Therefore, interventions in this category are largely around influencing change through “facilitative” strategies.
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.
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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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