Is cooling the future of heating?

The buildings sector, which includes residential, public and commercial properties, accounts directly and indirectly for 30% of the final energy consumed around the world, or around 3 100 Mtoe, including almost 55% of global electricity consumption. Building operations account for around 28% of global CO 2 emissions, making their decarbonisation a key priority to reach climate neutrality goals.Heating and cooling systems, the two main end-uses in building operations, are particularly critical areas to address to curb buildings emissions. Heating is currently responsible for around 45% of building emissions, and still relying on fossil fuels for supplying more than 55% of its final energy consumption. Building floor area is expected to double by 2070 – the equivalent of adding the built surface of Paris to the buildings stock every week. At the same time, space cooling will expand more rapidly than any other building end-use, with access provided to an additional 5 billion people by 2070