The UNEP Cool Coalition and BEE–UNEP District Cooling Hub, together with the Uttar Pradesh State Transformation Commission, held a high-level workshop on 3 July 2026 to examine pathways for accelerating district cooling adoption in the Indian state.
Government representatives, urban development authorities, planning agencies, infrastructure developers and multilateral organisations discussed integrating district cooling into future urban developments. The workshop addressed growing cooling demand linked to urbanisation and industrialisation, as well as energy efficiency, peak electricity demand and climate resilience.
Participants reviewed district cooling technologies and experiences from operational projects in India. Discussions covered centralised cooling networks, energy consumption, emissions, water use and the infrastructure and policy conditions needed to support deployment.
Representatives attended from the Uttar Pradesh Secretariat, UP Projects Corporation, Town and Country Planning Department, EPC Mission Planning Department, New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, the World Bank, Noida International Airport and City Montessori School. Manoj Kumar Singh, chief executive officer of the State Transformation Commission, and Akshat Verma, additional chief executive officer, delivered the inaugural remarks.
The workshop forms part of UNEP’s partnership with the Government of Uttar Pradesh on sustainable cooling and climate-resilient urban development. Uttar Pradesh was the first Indian state to adopt an Urban Cooling Policy, and UNEP is supporting work on urban heat measurement and mitigation, green building standards and sustainable cooling-as-a-service models.
