The Global Food Cold Chain Council (GFCCC) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) OzonAction are convening for a virtual World Cold Chain Symposium on 14 September, 2021.
Sponsored by Carrier Global Corporation, the theme is Promoting Sustainable Cold Chain: From Data to Action.
It will focus on: international policies and technology directions related to the sustainable cold chain solutions and their contribution to a global environmental and sustainable development agenda.
Several ongoing industries supported initiatives and programs aimed at tackling the cold chain program in terms of data and tech assessment as well as technology selection and best practices will also be covered.
Participants will include high-level expert representatives from government, industry, the international community and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
There is growing recognition of the need for more attention and actions on sustainable cold chains for food security public health, environmental, and economic reasons.
The symposium is one of a number of important international events that will explore the issue, including notably the upcoming United Nations Food System Summit in September, the next meetings of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in October, and 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in October-November.
The symposium will highlight many efforts occurring within UNEP on this subject, including the Joint GFCCC/UNEP OzonAction database and modelling program, the work of the UNEP Cool Coalition, actions that support the Rome Declaration on the Contribution of the Montreal Protocol to Food Loss Reduction through Sustainable Cold Chain Development, and efforts to develop appropriate financial mechanisms for national capacity building and initiation of technology projects.
Information and Registration can be found at the Symposium website: wccs.foodcoldchain.org
Head of UNEP OzonAction, Jim Curlin, said great momentum is being created with national and international initiatives to reduce food loss and waste.
“Our goal is to encourage the adoption of cold chain technology that meets societal needs in an environmentally sustainable way, and thereby contributes to achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.
The GFCCC and OzonAction recently announced the launch of the Cold Chain Database and Modeling initiative.
It was developed to assist developing countries in identifying their cold chain baselines in order to support the expansion of sustainable cold chain in their countries, reduce food loss and waste, and meet environmental objectives.
The launch comes in advance of the United Nations Food Security Summit, and is key to the framework for supporting expansion of a sustainable cold chain on a global basis.
The theme of this year’s CCN Live conference is Unlocking the Cold chain and speakers will discuss how to improve the cold chain in Australia and globally.
CCN Live will be held in Melbourne on 5 November, 2021.