Guide Book Prescribes Strategies for Urban Cooling, As Rising City Overheating Poses Risks

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By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos

Globally, many cities could warm as much as 4°C if Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions continue at the present high levels.
The prediction was contained in a guide book named: “Beating the Heat – A Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities.”
“Prepared with RMI, the comprehensive guide prescribes proven strategies to achieve sustainable urban cooling, with scores of case studies.

“Overheated cities face disproportionate climate costs due to ‘heat island effect’; average city could warm as much as 4°C by 2100,” United Nations Environmental Programme ((UNEP) wrote in a news statement titled: “UN Issues New Guidance to Address Warming Cities.”
UNEP published the handbook on 3rd November 2021 to help the world’s cities address warming, which is occurring at twice the global average rate in urban areas.

“Beating the Heat: A Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities, prepared with RMI, states that by the end of this century, many cities could warm as much as 4 °C if GHG emissions continue at high levels. Even at 1.5°C of warming, 2.3 billion people could be vulnerable to severe heat waves,” UNEP clarified.  
Launched at the ongoing UN Climate Conference (COP26) by the Cool Coalition, UNEP, RMI, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), Mission Innovation and the Clean Cooling Collaborative, the new guide offered planners an encyclopedia of proven options to help cool cities.
“Science tells us that to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5°C, we need to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century. Sustainable and equitable urban cooling must be a part of cities’ efforts to reach net-zero energy targets,” Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director, said.
According to UNEP, in outlining the problem, the Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities described how cities are warming quickly due to the “heat island effect”, caused by a combination of diminished green cover, the thermal properties of the materials commonly used in urban surfaces, and waste heat from human activities. 
The Handbook noted that the demand for space cooling is increasing. 
It pointed out that the energy requirement for space cooling is predicted to triple from 2016 to 2050 as millions of households in developing countries acquire air conditioners in the coming decades.
It highlighted that the impacts of urban heat are not evenly distributed.
For instance, “Cooler cities, homes and streets are key to ensure climate justice. Lower-income districts and communities are usually the most vulnerable to heat, placing the negative impacts of excess warming disproportionately on those least likely to be able to afford or access thermal comfort. We need to transition to more equitable and sustainable ways of cooling our cities and make them liveable for all,” guide book stated.
The book emphasized that thebenefits of sustainable urban cooling are far reaching, including improved health and productivity, reduced power energy requirements, lower emissions, and economic benefits.
UNEP, the global voice on the environment, declared: “Coolingegies can be optimized to work together efficiently. The report calls for a whole-system approach – that is, reduce heat at urban scale, reduce cooling needs in buildings and serve cooling needs in buildings efficiently – to benefit from integrative effects.

“City officials working to make their cities cooler and more liveable are faced with a wide range of approaches – the challenge is where to start.”

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