Expanding global cold chains: effective adaptation, or a dangerous contribution to climate change?
Keeping food cold as it moves through supply chains is critical to addressing food insecurity, preventing food waste, and supporting agricultural livelihoods and economies across developing countries.
But every step and technology in the cold chain—refrigerators, industrial chillers, and transportation—has a significant potential impact on climate change, from huge to powerful energy demands Fluorinated Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
Taken together, these effects make global food system refrigeration responsible for as much as 5% of global energy demand and It accounts for 2.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
Rising global temperatures and emerging economies will continue drive demand For large-scale new cold chain infrastructure.
Can we avoid the runaway cycle of cooling technology that is the root cause of global warming?
The freezer aisle of a supermarket in West Yorkshire.Source: Michael Taylor (Mtaylor848) via Creative Commons
Necessary technologies with significant climate impacts
Cold chains are an essential part of local, national and global food systems, yet they have a significant impact on climate.
more than 1.6 billion tons In the global food system, 50% of food is wasted every year.That’s 13% of the world’s total food production – enough Feed 950 million people – are either lost in the food supply chain or wasted by the end consumer.This food loss and waste represents significant embodied carbon emissions—from upstream land and energy inputs to methane emissions from transport and landfills—totaling nearly 4.4 billion tons Annual CO2 equivalent emissions.
Cold chain technology can reduce food loss in the supply chain and mitigate this wasteful emissions footprint.About 144 million tons Food losses in developing countries can be reduced through proper refrigeration alone.
But these technologies come with obvious emissions tradeoffs. Nearly every step of the cold chain—from post-harvest forced air coolers, refrigerated trucks and shipping containers, to industrial cold storage—requires massive amounts of energy to keep food from spoiling. When these energy needs are met through fossil fuel power generation, the emissions footprint of the cold chain can increase rapidly. In 2018, Refrigeration accounts for nearly 5% global energy demand, making these technologies individually responsible for 2.5% of total emissions that year.
The cooling technology also leaks powerful greenhouse gases directly into the atmosphere.Fluorinated gases (F gases) are used as refrigerants in cold chain technologies and have a high potential to contribute to global warming; in some cases, they are 25,000 times As powerful as carbon dioxide in warming the atmosphere.According to data released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), from 2000 to 2007, global food-related F-gas emissions increased by an average of 13%, while has been high ever since.
Emissions of fluorinated gases from the global food system increased by an average of 13% per year from 1990 to 2007 and have remained high since then. Source: FAOSTAT.
Taken together, these energy demands and fluorinated gas emissions make the global food cold chain responsible for up to 3.5% Carbon footprint of the world.
Climate change will continue to drive the need for more refrigeration and the development of global cold chains, especially in developing countries.
The twin pressures of global economic and population growth will require food systems to meet ever-increasing demands—up to Yield increased by 70% of plant and animal products 2050. As global temperatures continue to rise (1.02 degrees Celsius and increasing), the need for cooling technology will be even greater.According to the International Energy Agency, up to 14 billion refrigeration appliancesincluding non-food-related technologies, will be required by 2050.
cold chain is Rapid expansion Among developing countries and emerging economies, China’s cold chain market is expected to nearly double by 2026. according to FAO data, developing countries currently account for only 6 percent of global food system F-gas emissions, although this share is likely only to grow. These countries are poised to benefit the most from expanded cold chains, including enhanced food security, improved livelihoods for farmers, and adaptation to increases in heat waves and extreme weather events caused by climate change.
Developing countries’ share of F-gas emissions from global food systems has slowly increased from 2 percent in 1990 to 6 percent in 2020. Source: FAOSTAT
suggested solution
Climate-sensitive technologies and policies need to close this runaway feedback loop and maximize the benefits of expanding the cold chain.
In the face of these pressures, how can global cold chains expand without exacerbating major sources of climate change?
National and regional programs such as African Center of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chainis working to build capacity for a new cold chain market and low-carbon technologies in sub-Saharan Africa through local training, investment in R&D and a battery-powered food delivery project.
Companies making major public climate commitments are also racing to develop cleaner cold chains for cold storage.One of the core pillars on which Walmart achieves its ambitions gigaton plan Goals include transitioning to HFC-free, low-GWP refrigeration in its supermarkets and cold chain, and is piloting a New Battery Powered Refrigerated Trailer. other Key players in the private sector – including Dow Chemical, PepsiCo and Ingersoll Rand – have made public commitments to phase out high-GWP refrigerants and offer HFC-free products, demonstrating the availability of suitable alternatives and the potential for further action.
2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol Aiming to reduce global HFC emissions by 80% by 2047 is an impressive multilateral response to the threat of runaway HFC emissions.The U.S. Senate just officially approved the amendment OctoberAlthough developing countries are allowed to wait until 2024, or in some cases 2028, to freeze their national HFC consumption under the agreement.current F-gas emissions data Carbon emissions in the global food system have not yet fallen significantly, but developed countries are expected to meet their production and consumption commitments soon.
Despite the passage of the Kigali Amendment in 2016, total annual emissions of fluorinated gases from the global food system have remained virtually unchanged since 2007.Source: FAOSTAT
As with the broader fight against climate change, a wide range of creative policy solutions and commitments are needed to ensure we address the climate impacts of the cold chain at the scale and speed needed to avoid the worst impacts of a rapidly warming world .
Connecting food systems and climate action
Fortunately, there is already meaningful momentum across sectors to help meet the challenge of expanding global cold chains.
But greater collaboration is needed to ensure these efforts maximize the benefits of an expanded food system cold chain: low-carbon solutions can help reduce food waste and loss, improve food safety and farmers’ livelihoods, and help communities adapt – and Not contributing — to climate change.
As international policymakers finally begin Linking food systems to global climate actionwe must expand these efforts to consider the role of global cold chains on national and global carbon footprints.
Climate-sensitive technologies and policies can help decouple the cold chain from the worst climate impacts and are needed to effectively address our global food and climate crisis.
Benjamin Ritter Graduate student at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Kevin Carr is a research assistant at Columbia University Center for Climate System Research As a member of the Food Climate Partnership, he focuses on the intersection of food systems and climate change.
This Food Climate Partnership is an alliance of scientists and policy practitioners from the Columbia Climate Institute Center for Climate System Research and Center for Global Energy PolicyThis Agricultural model comparison and improvement projectand New York University School of Environmental Studies.
