Background

Cold chains are critical for food security, nutrition, health and livelihoods. At the same time, they are among the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The food cold chain accounts for around 4 percent of total global emissions, including emissions from energy use, refrigerant leakage and food loss due to inadequate refrigeration.

Transitioning to energy-efficient, climate-friendly and affordable cold chain systems is essential to achieving both development and climate goals. Reducing carbon dioxide and non-carbon dioxide emissions, including refrigerants used in cold chain technologies, is key to meeting the Paris Agreement targets.

This session, organized by the UNEP Cool Coalition in collaboration with global partners, will focus on the role of natural refrigerants and low-global warming potential alternatives in decarbonizing cold chains. It will highlight how integrating electric vehicles, batteries, renewable energy and a systems approach across production, logistics, supply and demand can enable seamless, efficient networks that reduce product losses and emissions while improving access and affordability.

The discussion will present scalable solutions that combine energy efficiency, renewable integration and refrigerant transition. It will also explore the role of enabling policies, innovative finance and international collaboration in accelerating adoption. The session will demonstrate how sustainable cold chains can reduce food loss, support farmer incomes and ensure reliable delivery of fresh produce with quality maintained.

Objectives

• Raise awareness of the climate and development impacts of unsustainable cold chains.

• Showcase scalable solutions using natural refrigerants, energy efficiency and renewable integration.

• Promote a systems approach linking production, logistics, supply and demand.

• Highlight enabling policies and financing mechanisms to support sustainable cold chain deployment.

• Demonstrate the role of cold chains in reducing food loss and improving livelihoods.

Agenda

Keynote Address
Niklas Hagelberg, Senior Programme Coordinator, Climate Change Division, UNEP

Keynote Address
Helen Walter-Terrinoni, Director of Global Climate Policy, Trane Technologies

Panel Discussion
Moderator: Dr. Graeme Maidment, Lead Technical Advisor, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

• Mark Major, Senior Strategy Director, Kuehne Climate Center, Germany
• Petter Neksa, Chief Research Scientist, SINTEF Energy Research
• Dr. Satish Kumar, President and Executive Director, Alliance for Energy Efficient Economy
• Prof. Dr. Nidhi Nagabhatla, Senior Official and Program Lead – Nature, Climate and Health, United Nations University – CRIS
• Jakub Vrba, Energy Saving Trust
• Edilaine Venancio Camillo, Manager Climate, CLASP

Audience Q&A

Closing Remarks
Helen Walter-Terrinoni, Director of Global Climate Policy, Trane Technologies

Resources

• Slide deck
• Photo gallery
• Recording