Passive Cooling for a Low Carbon Built Environment (BeCool)
BeCool aims to improve access to cooling through passive measures in buildings in urban India to reduce the impact of heatwaves on human health and productivity, while decreasing energy requirements, costs and greenhouse gas emissions linked to active cooling. The mitigation and adaptation aspects will be addressed through heat mapping, availability of financing mechanisms and capacity building to strengthen implementation in collaboration with the government and private sector.
| Country/region | Topic | Period | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
|
India |
Climate change and environment
Energy policy
Energy conservation & efficiency |
01.12.2023
- 30.11.2028 |
CHF 6’300’000
|
- Passive cooling and adaptive thermal comfort programs and policies (e.g., building codes) are strengthened and implemented at national and state level
- Investment and access to finance (public and private) for mainstreaming passive cooling and heat resilience in buildings and public spaces is accelerated
- Building sector stakeholders increase action towards adoption of passive cooling due to enhanced knowledge / capacity
- Recommendations and benchmarks are prepared to enhance thermal comfort and passive cooling programmes and their implementation is supported
- Relevant codes, standards, and guidelines to drive passive cooling and thermal comfort are customized to states and their integration into state policy is supported
- Dedicated funding scheme(s)/finance mechanism made available by state governments to enable passive cooling and thermal comfort features in housing
- Bankable, investment ready project pipeline prepared with public authorities and public and private banks (passive and nature-based cooling in buildings and public spaces)
- Passive cooling strategies (PCS) are designed and implemented with real estate developers to showcase performance, and to scale-up PCS in buildings
- Urban Heat Island Effect methodology prepared for testing and cooling plan prepared for Rajkot
- Passive and nature-based cooling strategies recommended and tender specifications prepared for Surat waterfront development project
- Draft packhouse design guidelines using passive cooling developed
- Preparation of road map for sustainable buildings in Orissa (ongoing)
- Cooling strategies integrated in National Institute for Urban Affairs programmes
- Foreign private sector South/East
- United Nations Environment Programme
-
Sector according to the OECD Developement Assistance Commitiee categorisation ENERGY
ENERGY
Sub-Sector according to the OECD Developement Assistance Commitiee categorisation Energy policy and administrative management
Energy conservation and demand-side efficiency
Aid Type Mandate without fiduciary fund
Project and programme contribution
Project number 7F11234
| Background | Heatwaves are severely impacting health and productivity of 1.2 billion people globally. Access to clean and affordable cooling is an urgent need, essentially for poor and vulnerable people. In India, the energy consumption for space cooling is estimated to grow four folds, from 135 TWh (Terawatt-hours) in 2017 to 584 TWh in 2038, if not adequately addressed. Tackling extreme heat with air conditioning is an option but limited to mainly middle- and upper-class population who can afford it. Presently, only 8% Indian households own air-conditioners (ACs), which is expected to rise to 40% by 2038. ACs drastically increase energy consumption which directly impacts climate and also amplifies urban heat island effect. Passive cooling measures can address these challenges if implemented on a large-scale: urban heat mapping, passive cooling techniques, nature-based solutions (NbS), adding thermal comfort aspects in building codes, financing mechanisms, etc. BeCool project will promote these measures through a contribution to the on-going UNEP India Cooling Programme (UICP). It supports India’s commitment to Paris Agreement and the India Cooling Acton Plan, which aims to reduce 20% of cooling load through passive measures in buildings. |
| Objectives | India’s built environment is sustainably cooled, more resilient to extreme heat and people have access to reliable, affordable cooling and thermal comfort while energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions caused by cooling are avoided to reduce adverse effects on the climate, power systems, health, environment and economy. |
| Target groups | The direct beneficiaries will be the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Ministry of Power (MoP) at the national level to achieve India’s target under Nationally Determined Contributions and national climate policies. At the state level, Urban Development Department, Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) cells and the Climate Change cells will be the main target groups. The Municipal Corporations as well as private sector real estate developers will benefit at the city level. Other target beneficiaries will be women, children, elderly and poor & vulnerable who are most affected by the heatwaves. They will benefit from better living and working conditions and good health as they will have access to affordable passive cooling. |
| Medium-term outcomes |
|
| Results |
Expected results: Results from previous phases: The key results of the India Cooling Programme (UICP), to which this project will contribute to, are: |
| Directorate/federal office responsible |
SDC |
| Project partners |
Contract partner Private sector United Nations Organization (UNO) |
| Coordination with other projects and actors | The World Bank; Asian Development Bank (ADB); Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All); Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC); Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC); German International Cooperation (GIZ); Danish Embassy in India; United Nations Development Program (UNDP); Shakti Foundation; Clean Cooling Collaborative; Building Energy Efficiency Project (BEEP); CapaCITIES and the Federal Office of the Environment. |
| Budget | Current phase Swiss budget CHF 6’300’000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF 1’815’000 Total project since first phase Swiss budget CHF 0 Budget inclusive project partner CHF 6’300’000 |
| Project phases | Phase 1 01.12.2023 - 30.11.2028 (Current phase) |
