COP27: UN Environment Programme and FAO flag food cold chain as imperative to global food security

14 Nov 2022 --- Food cold chains are essential for overcoming the challenge of feeding an additional two billion people by the year 2050 and enhancing the resilience of rural communities, all while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This is according to the Sustainable Food Cold Chains report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), presented at the 27th Climate Change Conference (COP27).

“At a time when the international community must act to address the climate and food crises, sustainable food cold chains can make a massive difference,” says Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP.

“They allow us to reduce food loss, improve food security, slow GHG emissions, create jobs, reduce poverty and build resilience – all in one fell swoop.”

In 2020, 3.1 billion people were estimated to be unable to afford a healthy meal, up 112 million from the year before, due to rising inflation brought on by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report highlights that the conflict in Ukraine has also raised the price of staple cereals this year, putting food security in jeopardy.

According to the UN, governments, international development partners and industry should invest in environmentally sustainable food cold chains to reduce hunger, support people’s livelihoods and help them adapt to climate change.

The need for efficient refrigeration
The report details how the food cold chain has significant effects on the environment and climate change. One gigatonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent was emitted through food loss and waste as a result of inadequate refrigeration in 2017, accounting for nearly 2% of all GHG emissions worldwide.

Food cold chains are essential for overcoming the challenge of feeding an additional two billion people by the year 2050.If developing nations were to create the same infrastructure for the food cold chain as developed nations, they could save 144 million tons of food yearly. As post-harvest food loss decreases the revenue of 470 million small-scale farmers by 15%, investing in sustainable food cold chains will help these farm families escape poverty. These investments would be made mostly in developing nations.

According to estimates, 17% of all food produced for human use is wasted and 14% is lost before it reaches the consumer. In a world where 811 million people are hungry and 3 billion cannot afford a nutritious diet, this would be enough to feed almost 1 billion people. One of the main causes of this problem, which led to the loss of 12% of the world’s food production in 2017, is the absence of efficient refrigeration.

Additionally, the food cold chain contributes 4% of the world’s GHG emissions, including those from cold chain technologies and food waste and loss from improper refrigeration.

The food cold chains in action
Projects throughout the world demonstrate the impact sustainable food cold chains already have. For example, a food cold chain pilot project in India decreased kiwi fruit losses by 76% while lowering emissions by expanding refrigerated transportation.

In Nigeria, 54 operational ColdHubs were installed as part of a project that reduced food spoilage by 42,024 tons and raised the family income of 5,240 small-scale farmers, retailers and wholesalers by 50%.

However, these projects, as well as many other illustrative case studies in the new report, remain the exception rather than the norm, the UNEP highlights. 

Global moves
The report presents several recommendations for governments and stakeholders to promote sustainable food cold chains worldwide, including adopting a holistic system approach to providing food cold chains and realizing that the availability of cooling technologies is insufficient.

Additional recommendations would be to:

• Compare the current food cold chains’ energy consumption and GHG emissions to find opportunities for reductions.
• Collaborate to assess the needs of the food cold chain and develop cost and sequential National Cooling Action Plans backed up by specific actions and funding.
• Implement and enforce aggressive minimum efficiency standards and monitor and execute illegal imports of inefficient food cold chain equipment and refrigerants.
• Run large-scale system demonstrations to exemplify the benefits of sustainable cold chains and how interventions can create sustainable and resilient scaling solutions.
• Establish multidisciplinary food cold chain development centers at a national or regional level.

Within previous COP27 moves, researchers warned that the rise in atmospheric CO2 makes it more difficult for plants to receive the minerals they need to produce nutrient-dense food. In a recent initiative, the World Health Organization emphasized that if UN climate change targets are not realized, nutrition insecurity will become even more severe.

By Nicole Kerr