London, UK: The Department of the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has promised that developing countries will receive £4 million to reduce harmful emissions from outdated air conditioning units, cooling refrigeration and cold supply chains.
The funding will be provided this summer to the United Nations Environment Programme, University of Birmingham, Government of Rwanda and fellow project partners as part of Defra’s £21m “Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain Solutions” programme.
Environment secretary Thérèse Coffey said: “This funding will help developing countries to play their part in tackling climate change and communities across the world with storing food and medicines more efficiently – as well as support for farmers to increase their productivity.”
In sub-Saharan Africa, small-holder farmers contribute 80% of food produced. About 37% of all food is lost between production and consumption, and almost 50% of fruits and vegetables are lost mainly due to improper cold chain management.
A lack of adequate cold storage and refrigerated transport vehicles to support medical supply chains in developing economies currently contributes to over 1.5 million vaccine-preventable deaths each year. Estimates suggest that 25% of vaccines reach their destination with degraded efficacy mainly due to failures within the cold-chains.
Officials from Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment reiterated the country’s commitment to the development of the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) headquarters in Kigali, which will be launched in late 2023.
Professor Toby Peters, University of Birmingham and Heriot-Watt University, who is leading the collaboration of UK Universities supporting this work in Africa and India, said: “Sustainable and equitable cooling and cold chain is now more than ever critical infrastructure in a warming world. Food saved is as important as food produced.”
“This programme for the first time delivers in an integrated approach that includes on-the-ground training and support for subsistence farmers and their communities, financeable business models and the network of skilled engineers needed to support equipment installation and maintenance. This work is underpinned by the evidence strategies required for the development of sustainable cold chain and community cooling.”
“In so doing, ACES can simultaneously deliver against multiple global challenges including mitigating climate change and environmental impacts of meeting new cooling demand; reduce food loss converting it into increased farmers’ incomes and food security and affordability for consumers and design the next generation of vaccine cold-chains that are efficient, resilient, responsive and sustainable,” Peters said.
