Improved refrigeration could save nearly half of the 1.3 billion tonnes of food wasted around the globe each year.
According to a new study by the University of Michigan, up to half of this waste, which is 620 million tonnes, could be eliminated by fully refrigerated food supply chains worldwide.
In fact, fully refrigerated supply chains could cut global food waste-related emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases by 41 per cent.
The study said southeast Asia could see a 45 per cent reduction in food losses and a 54 per cent decrease in associated emissions under an optimised refrigeration scenario.
The study coincided with new research released by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which shows the impact wasted food in landfills has on methane emissions.
EPA said 58 per cent of methane emissions released to the atmosphere from landfills are from food waste.
“Each year in the US food loss and waste create potent greenhouse gas pollutants equal to the emissions of 60 coal-fired power plants,” the research said.
The US government is seeking to reduce food loss and waste to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target to halve per capita global food waste by 2030.
Just last week Danfoss called for more investment to establish sustainable and energy efficient cold chain infrastructure.
The need to spur on global action on energy efficiency was covered at the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 9th Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency, held in Nairobi, Kenya last month.
Danfoss regions president, Astrid Mozes, said the good news is that emissions in 2050 could be cut by 97 per cent with readily available technology.