Professor Toby Peters and Dr Leyla Sayin
This has been a pivotal year for the Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain Solutions Programme. Activities have transitioned from the design and development of core facilities, tools, training, and content to ramped-up implementation through delivery of training courses, demonstration, testing, and roll-out of activities through the Clean Cooling Network (CCN), serving as the umbrella brand.
Additionally, bolstered by recent ongoing funding through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the total funds form the UK Government now stands at £29 million, allowing us to accelerate ongoing projects and execute key strategies into late 2026, including launching online training, the roll out a portfolio of new design and impact models, and support innovation, manufacturing, and assembly. Total programme funding, including industry and government matched funding, is more than £45 million.
Key Programme Goals
Sustainable & Resilient Cold-Chain Development in Low-Income Countries: Deploy sustainable and resilient cold-chain infrastructure in Africa and the Global South to reduce food losses, increase agricultural yields, and enable these countries to meet growing global food demands.
Economic Empowerment & Poverty Reduction: Uplift women, youth, and marginalized farmers by ensuring equitable access to cold-chain benefits, increased income, and a fairer food system that returns power and profit to them.
Capacity Building & Skills Development: Develop training (vocational/professional and academic) to deliver impact through solution design and demonstration, supporting industry and influencing government policy.
Environmentally Sustainable & Climate-Friendly Cooling: Ensure that new cooling and cold-chain solutions are environmentally sustainable, climate-friendly, and well-integrated into the broader energy system to minimise direct and indirect emissions.
Self-Financing & Revenue Generation: Develop an operating, business, and financing model that allows the programme to become self-sufficient and generate surplus revenue for reinvestment, growth, and broader impact.
Major Milestones Achieved
At the flagship Africa Centre of Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) in Kigali, Rwanda, we have opened the Refrigeration Training Centre (RTC) and Solar Lab and Training Centre. We are in full construction of the cutting-edge Environmental Test Centre (ETC) and Variable Temperature Rooms – “tested in Africa for Africa”.
With a fast-expanding team on campus, we offer more than 20 training courses - with more in continuous development - and average more than 200 students a month. In-person training will be underpinned this summer by a full online learning and management system for blended and online learning as well as online student communities, a new online student learning journey management system, student support services, and student-employer match-making.
In Kenya, our community engagement and support programme is live. A new Farmer Co-operative (Lari Horticulture Co-operative Ltd.) has been established and is being given leadership training while more than a hundred farmers are registered and practical training courses are being run. Their Try Before You Buy facilities - which include processing, precooling, cold room and temperature-controlled vehicle - went operational in March of this year.
In India, the Government of Haryana is moving to procurement for the build of a new state-of-the-art specialised Centre of Excellence (CoE) in cold-chain and post-harvest management in Panchkula. As a stepping stone whilst the new CoE is constructed, an interim facility has been agreed, and it is planned to be operational by autumn 2025, ensuring the early provision of in-country training.
Enhanced Strategic Vision
But this has also been a pivotal year in understanding and advocating the importance of sustainable cooling and cold-chain as critical infrastructure and in turn the role of ACES and the CCN in changing the flawed economic status quo of our food systems.
At their core, the programme is about recognising the critical role of cooling and cold-chain is not just around the issue of “food loss” but in building a fairer food system that returns power and profit to the communities who grow our food. By equipping smallholder farmers with the means to protect their produce, add value, and access markets, we can ensure that those at the base of the pyramid are not left behind but uplifted. This creates a positive cycle of increased productivity and income. Furthermore, rural value-addition can facilitate structural economic transformation, enabling local communities to shift labour and talent into higher-value economic activities.
In short, our approach addresses the root causes of rural poverty and inequality by helping smallholder farmers retain a greater share of the value they create, reducing loss and hunger, and fostering sustainable development from the ground up, and transforming the farm gate from a point of loss into a point of opportunity.
Some programme highlights from the last 12 months
- Secured 100% matched funding on Defra investments to date;
- Built a first-of-a-kind training, demonstration, and research centre for cold-chain in the Global South, in Kigali, Rwanda – ACES;
- Established a first Specialized Outreach and Knowledge Establishment (SPOKE) in Kenya;
- Launched an online knowledge and training hub – CCN – as a one stop shop for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain Solutions Programme publications, webinars, news, virtual training, etc.
- Created the reference and replicate model and supporting playbooks and materials (Build, Own, Knowledge Transfer) for further Centres and SPOKEs;
- Supported Government of Haryana, India in developing a second Centre of Excellence; expected to break ground later this year; a temporary facility is currently being prepared and equipped.
- Provided training to more than 400 students (39% women) through ACES and Kenya SPOKE
- Provided training to a further 107 students in India;
- Secured eight MSc and four Doctoral students;
- Built capacity to provide continuous vocational and technical training to more than 200 students per month at ACES;
- Engaged more than 3,000 stakeholders through program activities;
- Developed decision-support tools and models for optimized cold-chain design and risk assessment;
- Launched a series of programmes – VaccMap and VaccAir – to significantly improve the efficiency and resilience of vaccine cold-chains;
- Shaped global narratives and advanced cooling as critical infrastructure in governmental agendas through publications and participation in international forums (e.g. COP28);
- Catalysed the food industry to increase the operating temperature of frozen food chains by 3 degrees (-18C to -15C), potentially achieving significant energy and environmental wins, and cutting costs.