Background
Packhouses are a critical first-mile link in agricultural cold chains, connecting farms to markets through sorting, grading, packing, pre-cooling and staging before supplying fresh produce onwards through reefer transport. Still, across many emerging markets, packhouse infrastructure is being developed without sufficient consideration of energy efficiency, cooling performance, climate resilience and lifecycle costs.
In September 2026, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) and UNEP Cool Coalition launched India’s National Packhouse Design Guidelines, providing a practical framework for energy-efficient, climate-resilient and integrated packhouse design.
The Indian experience creates an opportunity to explore how these principles could inform more sustainable first-mile cold-chain infrastructure globally, including the elements that can be replicated across countries, the adaptations required for different crops, climates and markets, and the pathways for translating guidance into projects, investment and implementation at scale.
This Cool Talk will bring together policymakers, development partners, technical experts and industry to explore a pathway from national guidance to global replication, and the role the Cool Coalition and its members can play in enabling that transition.
Objectives
Showcase India’s National Packhouse Design Guidelines as a practical model for more sustainable and climate-resilient first-mile cold chains.
Identify pathways for global adaptation and replication across different countries, crops, climates and market contexts.
Explore how guidance can translate into implementation, including policy, investment, technology deployment and project development.
Define opportunities for Cool Coalition members and partners to support replication through technical expertise, finance, demonstration and peer learning.