Supported by: Contributing to:

P R O G R ES S R E P O RT 2 0 1 9

Atul Bagai India Office

Tu Ruihe China Office

Qian Wang China Office

Sudhir Sharma Asia Pacific Office

José Dallo Head, Southern Cone Office

Gustavo Mañez Latin America and the Caribbean Office

Harald Egerer Europe Office

REGIONAL SUPPORT

The District Energy in

Cities Initiative is a multi-stakeholder partnership coordinated by UN Environment,

with financial support from the Global Environment Facility, Danfoss Foundation, Danish International Development

Agency, Italian Ministry of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, and the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Programme. The Initiative also

gains in-kind assistance on concrete activities from its partners that can then be leveraged for external finance.

As one of six accelerators of the Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform, launched at the Climate Summit in September

2014, the Initiative is supporting market transformation efforts to shift the heating and cooling sector to energy efficient and renewable energy solutions.

The Initiative aims to double the rate of energy efficiency improvements for heating and cooling in buildings by 2030, helping countries meet their climate

and sustainable development targets.

The Initiative supports local and national governments to build local know-how and implement enabling policies that will accelerate

investment in modern – low-carbon and climate resilient – district energy systems. UN Environment is currently providing technical

support to cities in fourteen countries (Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt,

India, Malaysia, Mongolia Morocco, Russia, the Seychelles, Serbia,

Tunisia).

Lily Riahi Programme Manager and Global Lead, UN Environment

Sarah Harper Outreach, UN Environment

Benjamin Hickman Regional Technical Expert, Asia Pacific and Europe, UN Environment

Celia Martinez Regional Technical Expert, Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa, UN Environment

Sonja Malicevic Policy and Finance Expert, UN Environment

Lipeng Zhang Policy and Finance Expert, UN Environment

Zhuolun Chen Senior Technical Expert, Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency

Romanas Savickas Senior Technical Expert, Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency

Susana Paardekooper Senior Technical Expert, Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency

Energy Efficiency Services Limited

National Technical Coordinator for India

Pilar Lapuente National Technical Coordinator for Chile

Rong Rong National Technical Coordinator for China

Aleksandra Siljic Tomic & Radmila Arandjelovic

National Technical Coordinator for Serbia

SECRETARIAT OF THE INITIATIVE

26 PRIVATE SECTOR COMPANIES

Atoll Energy, Broad Energy, Carbon Trust, China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection (CECEP) Group, Clarke Energy, Dalkia, Danfoss, Devcco, Emaar District Cooling, Empower, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), Engie, Enova, E.ON, Goteborg Energy, Johnson Controls, King & Spalding, Optit, Renew Power, Solar Turbines, Sustainability Solutions Group (SSG), Tabreed, Thermaflex, Thermax, Trane, Veolia

6 INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

Chilean Industry Association (SOFOFA), Chinese District Energy Association, Danish Board of District Heating (DBDH), Euroheat and Power (EHP), International District Energy Association (IDEA), State of Green

5 ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

Aalborg University, Danish Technical University, INACAP Technological University of Chile, Polytechnic University of Milan, South China University of Technology

22 NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

4DH Conferences, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Asia Pacific Urban Energy Association (APUEA), Building Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency (C2E2), Copper Alliance, Danish Energy Agency, Efficacity, Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE), International Energy Agency (IEA), International Solar Alliance (ISA),International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC), Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL), The Energy Resources Institute (TERI), UN Environment, UN-Habitat, Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), World Resources Institute (WRI)

4 DONORSDanish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Global Environment Facility (GEF), Italian Ministry of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, Kigali Cooling Efficiency Programme

4 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Finance Corporation (IFC), KfW

3 CITY NETWORKS

Argentinian Network of Municipalities against Climate Change (RAMCC), C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability

AS OF MAY 2019, THE INITIATIVE HAS PARTNERED WITH:

PARTNERS

MILESTONES OF THE DISTRICT ENERGY IN CITIES INITIATIVE

SEPTEMBER 2014Secretary General Launch of the District Energy Accelerator as part of the Global Efficiency Accelerator Platform at the NY Climate Summit

1FEBRUARY 2015Establish Secretariat with DANIDA funding and releases flagship publication “District Energy in Cities: Unlocking Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy”

2DECEMBER 2015GEF CEO pledges $2M to the Initiative. District Energy recognized as a key climate solution by mayors, ministers and CEOs at COP21

3

GEF awards $2.4 million in funding to Chile to develop district energy; Chile’s Ministry of Energy creates a district energy and geothermal unit to support project development

Kigali Cooling Efficiency Programme pledges $0.5M to the Initiative to accelerate efficient and low‑GWP district cooling project in Egypt

Chilean Ministry of Environment includes district energy in the national decontamination plan of Chile and commits to finance rapid assessments in additional cities

CTCN and the Korean District Heating Corporation provides funding to conduct a feasibility study on renewable district heating in Belgrade

Chile’s Presidential Plan includes district energy as a key solution to fight air pollution, while its Energy Ministry adds district energy to the National Energy Roadmap to increase efficiency and renewables

BEA and the Initiative release final output from collaboration: “Aligning District Energy and Building Energy Efficiency: A View on Strategic Integrations”

National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China issues call for cities to apply to a new national district energy planning program

Initiative wins the “State‑of‑the‑Art” Energy Partnership Award, presented by GEF CEO Naoko Ishii, at a P4G event hosted by the Danish Prime Minister bringing together several heads of state and international leaders

13

14

7

8

9

10

11 12

DECEMBER 2018

DECEMBER 2018

JANUARY 2018

FEBRUARY 2018

APRIL 2018

JUNE 2018

OCTOBER 2018

OCTOBER 2018

MILESTONES OF THE DISTRICT ENERGY IN CITIES INITIATIVE

JUNE 2016Danfoss Foundation pledges $1.44M to the Initiative

4NOVEMBER 2016At COP22 in Marrakesh, the Italian Ministry of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea pledges $0.25M to the Initiative for activities in Morocco

5

Under the Initiative, investment mobilised in Amaravati, with a tender awarded to Tabreed for a PPP to build, own and operate a 20,000 RT district cooling project

Indian Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs commits to develop a ‘sector framework’ on district energy into the Smart Cities Mission

5 cities in China selected for initial support phase from 19 city‑submitted applications; District Cooling webinar launches with over 250 subscribers

16 21

China includes district cooling in its draft National Cooling Action Plan which aims to improve energy efficiency and phase down HFC’s

15JANUARY 2019

FEBRUARY 2019

17FEBRUARY

2019

APRIL 2019

After its second heating season with an upgraded system, Banja Luka reports 99% of heating came from renewable biomass with savings of $7M

22APRIL

2019

Thane accepts IFC and Initiative offer of support to structure and tender a 10,000RT district cooling PPP in a brownfield area of the city assessed by the city

23MAY

2019

NOVEMBER 2017$21.3M of investment mobilized in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the initiative, to refurbish its district energy system and integrate renewable energy

6

Italian Ministry of the Environment pledges $0.5M in financial support to the Initiative to support district energy implementation activities in Tunisia

Rajkot, the first Indian city to include district energy in its Smart City Plan, tenders the network for a 30,000 RT district cooling project through the Initiative

India launches its National Cooling Action Plan, a global first, with district cooling, trigeneration and thermal storage prioritised

18

2019MARCH

2019

MARCH 2019

MARCH 2019

DISTRICT ENERGY IN CITIES: UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY/TOOLKIT

Based on interviews, surveys and 45 city case studies, the report pro-vides guidance on local

and national policies, business models and fi-nancing options. The conclusion outlines the Initiative’s signature methodology for cities to develop district energy systems (UN Environ-ment, 2014).

C40-UN ENVIRONMENT GOOD PRACTICE GUIDEC40 and UN Environment, 2016

DATA CENTERS: STATE-OF-THE-ART REPORT

Efficacity with support from District Energy in Cities Initiative, 2017

RAPID ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY AND TECHNO-ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT TOOLS

The methodology informs a city-driven process that brings in partners and financiers, alongside city decision-makers, to identify the potential for district energy. Through its pilot city activities, the Initiative is adapting its techno-economic tools and creating new benchmarks to support high-level cost-benefit analyses of district energy in different regions. These tools evolve with pilot city work and partner inputs.

ICLEI-UN ENVIRONMENT: SOLUTIONS GATEWAY FOR SUSTAINABLE HEATING AND COOLING

An online platform for cities to evaluate district energy options applicable to their local context for heating and/or coolingSpecific solutions include:QQ Integrating district energy into energy and urban planning

QQ Starting district heating/cooling in existing cities and developments

QQ Interconnected

systems towards 100% renewable district heating & cooling

QQ Cogeneration and trigeneration

QQ Retrofitting district heating

TECHNICAL FAQS FROM BUILDING DEVELOPERS AND END-USERS ON DISTRICT COOLING

Based on demand from building owners in the Initiative’s pilot city of Thane, this peer-reviewed knowledge product supports stakeholder engagement for district cooling.

WORKING DOCUMENT ON RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT COOLING

In response to policymaker demand in countries such as India this was developed to demonstrate residential connection to unlock progressive policies and support for district cooling. The document is in progress and compiles the expertise of 10 different partners.

VIRTUAL PLATFORM

The Virtual Platform will host all the Initiative’s knowledge products, trainings, best practices, tools and methodologies, and greatly increases the Initiative’s reach and impact. The platform will use a wiki-style format, enabling partners, cities and experts to easily submit and review knowledge products, trainings and case studies. These collaborative contributions will effectively update the Initiative’s 2015 publication “District Energy in Cities: Unlocking the Potential of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy” with new best practices and case studies, while democratizing and facilitating access to district energy information. The Initiative seeks collaborating partners and support to realise this.

WASTE FOR HEATING AND COOLING: HOW DISTRICT ENERGY TRANSFORMS LOSSES INTO GAINS

This report examines detailed case studies from six cities and regions in recovering different ‘wasted’ heat resources to provide clean energy (UN Environment in partnership with the Copenhagen Centre of Energy Efficiency and Korean Energy Economics Institute, 2017).

WEBINAR SERIES

As of May 2019, the Initiative has held 12 webinars on various district energy topics to build awareness, capacity and receive feedback from participants. Two new webinar series have recently launched: a Spanish-language webinar series tailored to Latin America and an English-language webinar series focused on district cooling.

ALIGNING DISTRICT ENERGY AND BUILDING ENERGY EFFICIENCY: A VIEW ON STRATEGIC INTEGRATIONS

The District Energy in Cities Initiative and the Building Efficiency Ac-celerator, both part of

Sustainable Energy for All, co-wrote this report that aims to support all public authorities and agencies to develop and implement integrated approaches to both energy efficiency in buil-dings and district energy. The report includes a special focus on the Initiative’s pilot city, Bel-grade.

REPORT ON IMPACT OF DISTRICT ENERGY IN C40 CITIES

The Initiative is working with C2E2 and C40 cities to assess the scale of existing and planned district energy systems in the C40 cities and the historic and potential benefits district energy provides. This will be used to push further action and prominence of district energy in the global agenda for urban transition.

TRAINING MODULES

Training modules are being developed that align with the 10 key steps to accelerate the scale-up of modern district energy in cities which were developed by the District Energy in Cities Initiative. These training modules are tailored to different local contexts and needs identified through efforts in pilot cities and countries.

CITY EXPRESSES INTEREST AND JOINS INITIATIVE

STAKEH

OLDER

COORDIN

ATION

HEATIN

G & C

OOLING

STRATEG

IES

ENER

GY M

APPING

BUSINES

S M

ODEL

AND P

ROCUREMEN

T

FINANCE

AND

INVES

TMEN

T

M.R

.V.

URBAN PLA

NNING

AND P

OLICY

NATIONAL

OUTREA

CH

RAPID ASSESSMENT OF DISTRICT ENERGY POTENTIAL

IDENTIFY PROJECTS

PRE-FEASIBILITY/FEASIBILITY

PROCUREMENT PLAN

TENDER AND INVESTMENT

MONITORING AND EVALUATION FRAMEWORK IN PLACE

CITY-WIDE SCALING AND INVESTMENT PLAN

CITY REPLICATION AND NATIONAL SUPPORT PROGRAMME

TRAININGS

TOOLS AND METHODOLOGIES

The Secretariat leads and coordinates the development of the best available technical data addressing regulatory, economic, environmental and social barriers to district energy to enable on-the-ground implementation of successful and sustainable projects globally. All reports and tools are available on the Initiative’s website: www.districtenergyinitiative.org.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE GLOBAL AGENDA

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALSContributing to SGD3, SDG7, SDG10, and SDG 13 by helping cities reduce energy demand, optimize their energy system and shift supply of heating and cooling to efficient and renewable sources.

GLOBAL CLIMATE AGREEMENTS

KIGALI AGREEMENTPhasing down HFCs by replacing conventional cooling systems with district cooling.

PARIS AGREEMENTAvoiding greenhouse gas emissions and achieving carbon mitigation targets to put the world on a well below 2°C pathway through the implementation of nationally-driven district energy systems.

G20Contributing to the establishment of a taskforce on district energy.

HABITAT III: NEW URBAN AGENDAMaking cities more liveable through reducing air pollution and improving energy security while integrating renewables. District energy is recognized in the official commitment which states, “we will also prioritize smart-grid, district energy systems and community energy plans to improve synergies between renewable energy and energy efficiency.”

SETTING THE PATH TOWARDS 100 PERCENT RENEWABLEHighlighting and communicating the important role of district energy as a backbone technology for the transition of cities towards a future with 100 percent renewables.

GLOBAL CLIMATE ACTION

ACCELERATED ACTION ON COOLING

The Cool Coalition addresses a major “blind spot” in the energy transition by unifying governments, businesses, and civil society on clean and efficient cooling. It takes a cross-sectoral approach to cooling systems and cold chains, including energy efficiency, lower GWP refrigerants, building design, renewables and energy storage.

The Cool Coalition will combine the global resources of its co-leads and champions – UN Environment, Rwanda, Chile, WBG, IEA, K-CEP, SEforALL, CCAC, C40, RMI etc. – to support governments to develop comprehensive and cross-sectoral national cooling action plans to be included in NDC enhancement, while setting ambitious targets, tracking results and monitoring impacts.

BUILDING UP GLOBAL AMBITION AT THE UN SECRETARY GENERAL’S CLIMATE SUMMIT

UN Secretary-General António Guterres will convene heads of state and global leaders in September 2019 to raise ambition and increase climate action. The Summit is likely to set the global climate agenda for the next decade. The Initiative is participating in preparatory meetings and contributing its case studies and analyses to shape outcomes to ensure heating and cooling (60% of buildings’ energy consumption) are priorities.

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

Air pollution contributes to an estimated 1.2 million premature deaths in China annually; 7 million worldwide. China, a pilot country and host of World Environment Day under the theme of air pollution, is working with the Initiative to expand modern district heating that can reduce the use of highly polluting fuels in cities.

INTEGRATED URBAN SYSTEMS

The Initiative invited several of its partners [EON, Siemens, Johnson Controls, Engie, Resalliance, Copenhagen Centre for Energy Efficiency, REN21, Danfoss] to UN Environment offices in November 2018 to brainstorm on the best approach to the energy transition at the urban level. Two initiatives resulted from this productive meeting: Integrated Urban Systems and the plan for a global Cities Summit which was held at the 4th UN Environment Assembly.

THE SEYCHELLES

COLOMBIA

MONGOLIA

RUSSIA

MOROCCO

SERBIA

BOSNIAAND

HERZEGOVINA

MALAYSIA

EGYPT

TUNISIA

INDIA

CHILE

ARGENTINA

CHINA

District Energy for Cities presented on the stage at the Partnerships for Growth Summit 2018. The pitch competition was attended by Heads of State from several countries, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, and Vietnam, which included several District Energy in Cities pilot and champion countries.

CREATING A CULTURE OF RESULTS

UN Environment released its first newsletter to all UN Environment member states entitled, “Creating a Culture of Results” in May 2019. The Initiative was selected to be the feature in this first edition of UN Environment’s global results, highlighting the importance of action on heating and cooling, the link between district energy and refrigerant phase-down under the Kigali Amendment and successes of the Initiative.

UN ENVIRONMENT’S ANNUAL REPORT 2018

Released in May 2019, UN Environment’s annual report tracks progress on qualitative and quantitative indicators of its activities globally. In a section titled “Minimizing the scale and impact of climate change,” the Initiative was presented as a leading area of work at UN Environment. The report recognizes cooling and heating as vital, “a lifesaver, keeping children healthy, vaccines stable, food fresh, energy supplies stable, economies productive

and environments clean.” Then goes on to state how crucial it is to transition heating and cooling to clean, efficient technologies, like what District Energy in Cities works on globally. The Banja Luka project is used as a model of effective partnership and action on climate.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

Featured in two UN Environment progress reports sent to all member countries, recognized at an international competition, and appearing in print media, District Energy in Cities Initiative was featured globally.

THE SEYCHELLES

COLOMBIA

MONGOLIA

RUSSIA

MOROCCO

SERBIA

BOSNIAAND

HERZEGOVINA

MALAYSIA

EGYPT

TUNISIA

INDIA

CHILE

ARGENTINA

CHINA

EUROPEAN ENERGY INNOVATION

This quarterly publication keeps an estimated readership of 20,000 opinion leaders in industry, research, academia, the EU Parliament, European Commission and National Governments up to date with the latest thinking on Energy and Transport in Europe. The Initiative was invited to write an article on for their 2018 Winter edition. The article examines how limiting warming to 1.5 degrees will be nearly impossible without addressing heating and cooling.

PARTNERSHIPS FOR GROWTH

In October, the Initiative’s partners helped it to win the State-of-the-Art Energy Partnership Award presented by GEF CEO, Naoko Ishii (pictured, right). Danfoss joined the Initiative on stage at the Partnerships for Growth Summit (P4G) to present a pitch and compete as one of the top three globally impactful public-private partnerships on energy, alongside World Bank/IFC and African Development Bank. The Initiative’s pitch won based on the categories of SDG impact, commercial viability, partnership, and scale. This international competition, held in Copenhagen, Denmark is an initiative of Partnerships for Growth, a network of global leaders and innovators seeking breakthrough solutions for green economic growth. Hosted by the Prime Minister of Denmark and gathering several heads of state together with leaders in business and civil society, this rare public appearance for the Initiative helps to highlight the impact and scalability of district energy projects to increase replication globally.

ASIA

WHY INDIA?Cooling demand in India is rising dramatically, straining electricity infrastructure. Economic growth, new urban areas, rising living standards, and increased temperatures will lead India to be the largest consumer of space cooling globally by 2050, with cooling projected to consume 44% of India’s peak power demand. With colossal real estate projects and new cities being established, huge opportunities are presented to incorporate district energy into planning and urban design, bringing significant environmental and econo-mic benefits to India’s citizens.

COUNTRY COORDINATION AND GOVERNANCEA National Project Steering Committee, co-chaired by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), informs project de-velopment. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) in its role as national coordinator has established a Deployable Project Work Team (DPWT) and the UN Environment India office is providing on-the-ground expert support.

CITY ASSESSMENTS AND RESULTSIn November 2017 the Initiative launched the re-sults of five city rapid assessments of district coo-ling (Bhopal, Coimbatore, Pune, Rajkot, Thane), identifying over $600 million of commercially viable district cooling projects – the first publicly available district cooling assessments in India. The Initiative is taking these cities forward and has built relationships with new cities such as Chennai and Amaravati and is exploring with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi to esta-blish the first campus district cooling in India.

The Initiative is tailoring international best practice on district cooling to its first pilot city in India: Thane. A range of partners are supporting the city, including EESL, ICLEI South Asia, the International Finance Corporation and the Carbon Trust. Two projects have undergone prefeasibility studies and IFC is supporting the city to structure and procure one project as a PPP. A city‑wide plan for district cooling and supportive policies will be adopted later this year.

INDIA’S FIRST DISTRICT ENERGY PILOT CITY

THANEWith the support of the Initiative since 2015, Rajkot has incorporated district cooling into its Smart City Plan as part of the Government of India’s Smart City Mission. This will lead to the development of a $49 million district cooling project with 32,000TR of capacity in Rajkot’s Smart City Area. The Initiative has committed to support the tendering of Rajkot’s district cooling project and ensure innovative technology options and policies underpin this development. The Initiative is exploring a state‑level support programme in Gujarat and adopting Gujarat as a pilot state of the Initiative in India to unlock much‑needed state‑level policy support for Rajkot.

FIRST INDIAN CITY TO INCORPORATE DISTRICT COOLING INTO ITS SMART CITY PLAN

RAJKOT

The new state capital city of Amaravati has taken forward the design and tendering of a 20,000 TR greenfield district cooling project with Initiative support, awarded to the Initiative’s partner, Tabreed. Amaravati is combining this with policy recommendations from the Initiative, such as mandatory connection of public buildings, identifying priority zones for district cooling and dedicated use of renewable power. Next steps are to assess and plan how commercial and residential buildings in the rest of the city can be connected to an ever‑expanding district cooling system.

FIRST STATE CAPITAL TO ADOPT DISTRICT COOLING

AMARAVATI

Building‑upon the national analysis in the Rapid Assessments, the Initiative has commissioned a national potentials study to assess the potential for district cooling in India, promoted inclusion of district energy in the India Cooling Action Plan, secured commitment from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to incorporate district cooling into the Smart Cities Mission, and helped gear‑up EESL to invest in numerous trigeneration and district cooling projects. The Initiative will use the evidence base to push further national and state‑level policy support.

NATIONAL LEVEL

INDIA

R A P I D AS S ES S M E NTS O F F I V E I N D I A N C ITI ES

N ATI O N A L A N A LYS I S

Contributing to:

CHINA

WHY CHINA?The 13th Five-Year Plan (FYP) indicates that by 2020 China will reduce energy intensity by 15%, carbon intensity by 18%, and emissions of particu late matter (PM2.5), a major cause of deaths from air pollution, by 25%. These objec-tives underpin China’s focus on expanding and modernizing dis trict energy, which China priori-tises the utilisa tion of low-grade excess heat, inte-gration of other renewables and district cooling to achieve its poli cy objectives.

With Initiative support, district energy is one of 11 priorities of the G20 Energy Efficiency Lea-ding Programme, endorsed by China in Sep-tember 2016. The draft National Cooling Action Plan (anticipated June 2019) and the Green Coo-ling Initiative for the Belt and Road Initiative will both include district cooling as priorities.

COUNTRY COORDINATION AND GOVERNANCE In 2017, UN Environment and NDRC jointly established the National Project Steering Com-mittee as well as a country project management office. UN Environment and the state-owned China Energy Conservation and Environmen-tal Protection Group (CECEP) soon after joined forces to scale up modern district energy, with the backing of the NDRC. A joint Memorandum of Understanding outlines a program of work in-cluding: policy and finance; business models for third-party district energy services to cities; me-thodologies and tools; and knowledge exchange.

ACTIVITIESIn October 2018 the NDRC issued a call for dis-trict energy projects and cities with a focus on the Northern part of China. The call drew interest from 17 cities, which submitted 40 existing pro-jects to showcase their work. Following agreed selection criteria, the Initiative selected 5 cities with highest political support and technical po-tential: Xi’an, Yinchuan, Jinan, Baotou and Qianxi. The Initiative has visited the 5 cities to establish partnerships, undertake consultations and study tours and collect data and information. The team has drafted five comprehensive rapid assessment reports of the five cities to be sent for peer review in June 2019.

Based on a partner consultation and selection criteria including political support, replicability and ease of working, the team has selected Xi’an as the Initiative’s first pilot city in China and is seeking financial support to also support the other four cities in a significant way.

MALAYSIA

WHY MALAYSIA?Malaysia is arguably one of the most active dis-trict cooling markets in Southeast Asia, with its astounding pace of real-estate market growth and several successful district cooling projects establi-shed with more being commissioned. The Initia-tive has begun its work in Malaysia by providing direct support to the country to accelerate its dis-trict cooling market and support Iskandar Regio-nal Development Authority (IRDA) in their local district cooling efforts.

CITY-WIDE PLAN AND NATIONAL REGULATORY ASSESSMENTBuilding upon the results of the rapid assessment, the Initiative has begun a deep assessment of the Johor Bahru District, including a pre-feasibility study, ground-testing best-practice district energy policies and planning guidelines fit to the Malay-sian context and a national policy and regulatory assessment of district cooling.

NEXT STEPSThe Initiative has been engaging the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change to develop a national-level pro-ject on district cooling to unlock new, innovative demonstrations of district energy, a new national enabling framework, financial support for innova-tion and increased capacity building.

In Asia, District Energy in Cities is active in:

QQ ChinaQQ India

QQ MalaysiaQQ Mongolia

EUROPE

WHY BELGRADE?Belgrade has one of the largest district hea-ting systems in Europe, which supplies heat to approxi mately half of the city’s population. Im-proving energy efficiency in both the city’s buil-dings and its district heating network is a priority for Belgrade, as is switching heat sources from imported gas to renewables and waste heat. Es-timates from the city-owned district heating utility’s development strategy indicate that €380 million ($454.5M) of investment is needed over the next 25 years to mo dernize and expand the district heating network, which could take the system from less than 1% renewable energy today to 65% renewable or reco vered heat by 2025.

COUNTRY COORDINATION AND GOVERNANCEThe Initiative has established a National Stee-ring Committee, Local Multi-Stakeholder Coor-dination Group, as well as a Belgrade Expert Working Group of partners interested in suppor-ting the city. The Local Coordination Group has helped review the workplan and engaged in facili-tating data collection. The Initiative has contrac-ted a consultant to undertake the deep-dive as-sessment and develop a pre-feasibility study on system’s interconnection. In parallel, a study on renewables potential is being undertaken by Korean District Heating Corporation (KDHC) and Yujin Energy, which is facilitated by Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN).

The Initiative’s work in Belgrade will be publi-cly available for cities in Serbia and globally. The city’s focus on combined action on building efficiency and district heating are of global rele-vance.

CITY ASSESSMENTSFollowing the results of the rapid assessment un-dertaken in 2017, the Initiative has launched a deep assessment of Belgrade, including develop-ment of an energy mapping, metering strategy and support to develop the city’s Action Plan for Dis trict Energy for the next 10-15 years. A pre-feasibi lity study, supported by Optit, will evaluate several scenarios for interconnections of the sepa-rate dis trict heating networks, and viability of a 600 MW waste heat connection to a local power plant. The pre-feasibility study will be finalized by July 2019. An additional prefeasibility study by KDHC is as sessing solar thermal projects, to be finalized in 2019 as well. The Initiative is ex-ploring financing optionswith the city for these projects and deli vering wide-ranging training that can be scaled-up across the region.

Finally, a city strategy to integrate building effi-ciency and district energy has been developed as result of District Energy in Cities and Building Ef ficiency Accelerator collaboration.

CITY ASSESSMENT AND PILOT PROJECTUN Environment engaged the partners of the Initiative, including EBRD on how to support the city of Banja Luka in modernizing its aged heavy-fuel-oil-based district heating system. With support of the CTCN, the Initiative developed an assessment of the city’s district heating system and potential, with partners engaged as reviewers to ensure projects proposed in the assessment would be primed for investment. The success of this neutral approach led EBRD to commit funds and, alongside UN Environment and CTCN, to develop a full feasibility study of the city’s district heating system.

Following a public call for a public-private partnership in May 2017, EBRD officially ap-proved an €8.4 million ($10M) loan (out of the €17.8 million ($21.3M) total investment needed), kicking off the construction of a new 49 MW bio-mass-powered district heating utility plant.

The plant was officially opened on March 15, 2018, and the switch from oil to biomass caused the amount of heavy fuel oil used to heat the city to plummet from 16,548 tonnes a year to less

than 1,100 tonnes in 2018 and to 900 tonnes by 2033, saving up to €900,000 ($1.1M) in 2018 alone and effectively cutting CO2 emissions by 91% and sul phur dioxide emissions by 94%.

The Initiative continues to offer the city lon g-term support as requested, including capacity building trainings and guidance on using Banja Luka as a case study to spread successful energy efficiency replication in the country and region.

SERBIA

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA

In Europe, District Energy in Cities is active in:

QQ Bosnia and HerzegovinaQQ RussiaQQ Serbia

AFRICA

MOROCCO TUNISIA EGYPT

Morocco selected Marrakech as its first district energy pilot city. The project – funded by the Ita lian Ministry of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea – was launched at COP22 and city activities started in May 2017, undertaken by Politecnico di Milano in collaboration with the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency and with significant support from partners.

ACTIVITIESA district cooling pre-feasibility study in the tou-ristic area of Hivernage resulted in the identifi-cation of a potential project that would connect several hotels and reduce CO2 emissions by 46%, refrigerants emissions by 34 % saving 4.8GWh of electricity per year. The project would require an investment of approximately $10.6 million with a 10 years payback.

The results were validated by local stakeholders and potential investors during a workshop in Marrakech in January 2019. The Initiative has initiated conversations with the Ministry of En-ergy to support the expansion of district cooling to other cities in the country and will continue supporting the procurement of the pilot project in Marrakech.

With this project, the Initiative aims at proving the commercial viability of district cooling sys-tems in the North-African region. The study will also evaluate the potential contribution of district cooling systems to refrigerant phasing out under the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendment.

Clean and efficient cooling is a key pillar of the National Strategy for Energy Efficiency and a focus areas of the National Agency for Energy Conservation (ANME). In this context, ANME initiated a study on district energy in the green-field zone of “Berges du Lac” in Tunis connec-ting 30 buildings with an estimated investment of 12M € ($13.5M).

ACTIVITIESThe Initiative is supporting ANME and the Mi-nistry of Energy and Mines to speed up adoption of best-practice policies and mobilize the finance support required to adopt and scale up modern district energy systems in the country.

Furthermore, the Initiative will support imple-mentation of the “Berges du Lac” pilot project, identify a project pipeline across the country, support the development of an enabling regula-tory framework and build capacity among local stakeholders. The project kick-off meeting will take place June 25-26, 2019 in Tunis. Activities are funded by the Italian Ministry of Environ-ment, Land and Sea and will be implemented in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano and ANME.

As an energy efficiency measure the government is strongly promoting district cooling, particular-ly in its new cities. Egypt already has seven dis-trict coo ling projects under operation and has a potential of 1.2 million refrigeration tonnes (RT) of district cooling before 2030. To accelerate the deployment of district cooling, with UN Envi-ronment support, the Ministry of Housing has developed a District Cooling Code and is desi-gning a district cooling regulatory framework to overcome significant bar riers to permitting and project development and to promote projects that incorporate high primary energy efficiency and low-GWP refrigerants.

ACTIVITIESThe Initiative has been granted $0.5M from the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Programme (K-CEP) to unlock an estimated $56 million of direct invest-ment in a high efficiency sea water district coo-ling system in El-Alamein with low-GWP refrige-rants. The project can be scaled and replicated in Egypt, regio nally and globally. The Initiative will be supporting the procurement phase of the El-Alamein project and will work with the Ministry of Housing in the de velopment of standardized district cooling procu rement processes, contract templates, guidelines and training material to raise awareness and capa city to scale-up district cooling in Egypt.

The project was launched in December 2018 and data collection has started and a first technical workshop will be organised in July 2019. The pro-ject will be implemented by UN Environment in collaboration with the New Urban Communities Authority of Egypt and DEVCCO.

In Africa, District Energy in Cities is active in:

QQ EgyptQQ MoroccoQQ The SeychellesQQ Tunisia

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

WHY CHILE?Around 70% of the total energy consumption in an average city of central and southern Chile is used to cover heating and cooking demand. These needs are mostly met through inefficient and highly polluting woodstoves and/or individual gas boilers. Local air pollution is responsible for 3,500 annual cases of premature death from cardiovas-cular diseases in Chile, costing almost $2.5 Billion per year in medical expenses and lost labour pro-ductivity (Ministry of Environment, 2018).

Improving air quality is a major goal for the Chilean government, including district energy as a key solution to address air pollution in national policies such as the Presidential Plan and Na-tional Decontamination Plan, as well as in new national and regional energy roadmaps, the local energy strategies and the atmospheric deconta-mination plans.

COUNTRY COORDINATION AND GOVERNANCEThe Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Environ-ment, the Ministry of Housing and UN Environ-ment established a National Steering Committee in 2018. Within the Ministry of Energy, a district energy and geothermal unit has been created to develop policies and an enabling framework. Furthermore, the Initiative launched the Chilean District Energy Municipality Network in 2019 to facilitate exchange of information among the 13 cities that have so far joined the Initiative in Chile.

The Initiative’s pilot city, Temuco, hosts a Local District Energy Committee which coordinates on implementation of the city’s district energy master plan currently under development. Lo-cal partners of the Initiative in Chile include the Federation of Chilean Industry (SOFOFA), the Chilean Chamber of Construction (CChC) and the National Technical University (INACAP).

CITY ASSESSMENTS AND RESULTSA total of 13 cities are receiving technical sup-port for the identification and development of pilot projects. Ten rapid assessments have been finalised, showing potential of district heating in seven cities and for district cooling in three. Deep assessments and city-wide district energy master plans are being developed for Temuco, Coyhaique and Puerto Williams.

CHILE

The project of Escuela Agrícola, analysed in the rapid assessment, received financial support from the regional government for a full feasibility study and the detailed en gineering phase. The project will cut PM emissions and thus reduce the impact on health costs related to air pollution for more than 700 families. The Regional Go vernment has allocated $2.8M for the design, construction and imple mentation of the project.

COYHAIQUE

An Initiative‑led city‑wide long‑term po licy and investment plan identified a pro ject pipeline with an estimated investment opportunity of $30M over the next 5 years. The plan considers the potential future interconnection of three key pro jects in the city which could reduce PM 2.5 emissions by 90%. The Initiative is suppor‑ting the municipality in the development of tender documentation for one of these projects and is seeking to leverage funds to support the remaining two.

TEMUCO

Building‑upon the national analysis in the Rapid Assessments, the Initiative has commissioned a national potentials study to assess the potential for district cooling in India, promoted inclusion of district energy in the India Cooling Action Plan, secured commitment from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to incorporate district cooling into the Smart Cities Mission and helped gear‑up EESL to invest in numerous trigeneration and district cooling projects. The Initiative will use the evidence base to push further national and state‑level policy support.

NATIONAL LEVEL

COLOMBIA

ARGENTINA

Colombia is pioneering the development of dis-trict cooling in Latin America with major drivers including refrigerant phase down, reduced emis-sions, efficiency and renewables integration. The district cooling system of La Alpujarra, located in Medellín, became the first system of its kind in operation in the region in 2016.

District cooling has benefited from strong insti-tutional support. Since 2014 the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Ministry of En-vironment and Sustainable Development and the Public Companies of Medellín (EPM) have been promoting and generating a favourable environ-ment for the implementation of these projects.

The Ozone Unit at the Ministry of Environment is supporting five cities with the development of pre-feasibility analyses and has requested sup-port from the Initiative to reinforce the techni-cal assistance, attract investment, build capacity and support the creation of an enabling national framework. As a first step, two experts from the Initiative are providing technical assistance to the Metropolitan Area of Valle de Aburrá, for development of a district energy project in an in-dustrial area. Local and national authorities are invited to capacity building and training sessions organised by the Initiative in Latin America.

The cities of General Alvear and Ubajay in Ar-gentina joined the District Energy in Cities Ini-tiative end of 2018, searching for opportunities to improve energy efficiency and harness local re-newable energy sources to make their cities more sustainable. Both cities are receiving technical assistance for the development of a preliminary study for a biomass district energy cogeneration project in Ubajay and a district heating and coo-ling project in the city of General Alvear. Both studies will be developed by experts from the Co-penhagen Centre for Energy Efficiency (C2E2) for the District Energy in Cities Initiative. The first results are expected by the end of 2019.

General Alvear and Ubajay are part of the Argen-tinian network of municipalities against climate change (RAMCC). The Initiative is collaborating with the RAMCC to build capacity and raise awar eness on district energy at the local level.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, District Energy in Cities is active in:

QQ ArgentinaQQ ColombiaQQ Chile

Ms Lily Riahi, Programme Manager and Global Lead

District Energy in Cities Initiative Energy and Climate Branch, UN Environment ‑ Economy Division

lily.riahi@un.org

@DES_Initiative

experts@districtenergyinitiative.org

www.districtenergyinitiative.org

INVESTMENT $84.8 MILLION

$78.5M leveraged in-kind and cash investment, including $71M in project financing... so far!

$6.3M direct investment, including GEF, DANIDA, Italy, Danfoss and KCEP

ENERGY SAVED 18,057,350 GJ

Total estimated direct energy savings for a period of 20 years based commissioned projects by the District Energy in Cities Initiative

CO2

EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS 823,050 TONS OF CO2 EQUIVALENT

Total estimated emissions reductions for a period of 20 years based on commissioned projects by the District Energy in Cities Initiative

PARTNERS AND CITIES 69 PARTNERS 36 CITIES IN 14 COUNTRIES

24 new global and national partners join, strengthening the Initiative

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