Africa
Kigali, Rwanda
The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES)
At the Clean Cooling Network, we aspire to be a central and valued player driving the development of Africa’s cold-chain and cooling sector while creating approaches and solutions that can be referenced, replicated, and adapted globally.
The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) based in Kigali, Rwanda, serves as the first regional Hub under the Clean Cooling Network, with plans for other locations across the continent, and beyond.
Key Facilities at ACES
- A state-of-the-art in-market technology test and demonstration centre;
- Fully equipped refrigeration equipment (including refrigerants);
- A quality, safety, and postharvest management laboratory to conduct tests to evaluate and monitor quality, safety and storability potential of local crops, guaranteeing that they meet international and established standards;
- Renovated conference hall and classrooms;
- Model, fully working Smart Farm that will allow research of cooling in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus and wider climate adaptation challenges, including diversifying crop cultivation for increased farmers’ income and more resilient, sustainable food systems, which will inform scaling of approaches to broader farming communities and food systems;
- Collaborative undergraduate and teaching facilities established at IPRC Kigali.
Take a tour of ACES
Rwanda
ACES is housed on a five hectare campus with an adjacent 200 hectare farm in Kigali, Rwanda. Collaborative research, new equipment testing, and the development of knowledge training programmes and robust business models takes place here.
ACES
The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) was established to:
- Reduce food and vaccine wastage and loss
- Economically empower subsistence and smallholder farmers and their communities
- Lessen the potential environmental impact of the cold-chain
Reference SPOKE
Kenya is our reference SPOKE, attached to ACES in partnership with ACTS. Following the development and success of this first SPOKE, we are in discussion with other countries across Africa, including Senegal and Lesotho.
Reference SPOKE - Kenya
The first SPecialised Outreach and Knowledge Establishment (SPOKE) is in Kenya. Kenya is the reference SPOKE through which we are designing the SPOKE programme, building the delivery team and developing the toolkits for our reference and replicate model.
The SPOKE team provides the essential enabling mechanisms, tools, technology selection, business model, governance and operational systems, and the targeted training necessary to support community leaders and the wider community. This will help establish a grassroots, community cold-chain ecosystem and integrate cold-chain into their operations.
The SPOKE programme works in three phases, taking a journey from initial community partnership scoping in Phase 0, then through Phase 1 establishing the engagement framework and support ecosystem, and finally in Phase 2 implementing the Try Before You Buy model on-the-ground and proving practical viability
As an example of the programme’s success, the Lari cooperative, our first community SPOKE in Kenya, has been able to aggregate its produce through its cold-chain and market its top-quality produce to higher-end markets.
They earn, on average, over 50% higher returns for their produce than previously.
Essential reading
Sustainable Cold-Chain For The Global South 2025
3rd Nov 2025
Investigating how we have set out to holistically understand and cover all bases, from designing food and planning health corridors, future energy strategies, and climate risk mitigations, to pulling value back to farming communities, training engineers and technicians, and understanding overall value.
"Born in Rwanda but pan-Africa in Vision": 2026 - Putting words into practice through The ACES SPOKE programme.
31st Oct 2025
Our overarching objective is to combine training, support and technology demonstration to accelerate the deployment of sustainable, resilient and equitable cold-chains across the Global South.
A Cool World: What to expect and what I am excited about!
17th Oct 2025
Dr. Tim Fox discusses what he's most looking forward to at "A Cool World: Sustainable Cold-Chain for the Global South" conference.
Equitable and inclusive cold-chains – putting the vision into practice
25th Sep 2025
The key question we have laid down at CCN is: "How do we unlock Africa’s agricultural potential to feed itself and the world whilst also economically empowering smallholder farmers and making them climate-resilient … all without using diesel?"
Shared value, inclusive business models are key for resilient, stable communities
25th Jul 2025
A core pillar of the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain (ACES) is to develop new community-based business models and approaches which create and deliver shared value equitably to all participants.
From loss to resilience: Building Rwanda’s cold-chain for inclusive food system transformation
10th Jun 2025
PART 2 - In this two part article we consider three interdependent pillars critical to developing an effective and efficient cold chain system in Rwanda.
