Department of Horticulture, Government of Haryana, India
Written by: Anant Shukla
The international "Cool World: Sustainable Cold-Chain for the Global South" conference being held at the University of Birmingham on 28th – 29th October this year (2025) aims to foster the collaborative thinking and action to rapidly deliver holistic, affordable, sustainable, and resilient cooling and cold-chain (and other energy services through integration) to all, as well as identify supporting research, trade and commercial opportunities. Representatives from the CCN team for India will join the October Conference to discuss the programme’s plans.
In February of this year we signed an MoU with the Government of Haryana and University of Birmingham to further the development of the Haryana-UK Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Crop Post-harvest Management and Cold-Chain (CoE-SPMCC). Last week we hosted students at the Centre’s interim training site in Panchkula for our Clean Cooling Network Foundation Course on Sustainable Postharvest and Cold-Chain Management. With a focus on sharing and advancing technical, operational and strategic knowledge of sustainable cold-chain solutions, the course aims to reduce food loss and empower farmers and entrepreneurs in local markets.
During the five-day course, the team from CCN and the partner universities addressed an integrated set of topics, from the basics of thermal energy and refrigeration concepts to postharvest physiology and management, food loss reduction strategies, cold storage optimisation, and sustainability. The training was supported by key private sector partners to ensure a real-world focus on topics including the fundamentals of refrigeration, refrigerated logistics and the use of telematics. Carrier and Danfoss provided industry perspectives on the latest technologies and broader considerations for scaling-up the roll-out of sustainable cold-chain solutions.
The training marks a pivotal milestone in the Centre of Excellence’s (CoE’s) vision to kick-start a comprehensive set of courses that builds a skilled workforce in Haryana that is familiarised with the sustainable technologies, effective businesses models, and industrial best practice, essential for transforming India’s supply chains for perishable products. The courses intend to nurture cross-sectoral collaboration and knowledge transfer through engaging a diverse, gender-balanced cohort of students. Representatives from Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), academicians, researchers, cold storage operators, and government officials participated.
The team from India will update the conference on the progress with the new-build Centre as well as the needs and opportunities of the Haryana market. The CoE is a first-of-a-kind new build facility designed on the CCN’s system of systems architecture and constitutes six stations across the 13 acre campus, each catering to a specific goal of the programme. These include the Centre Building housing the teaching, conference and administrative block, startup incubation hub, Post-Harvest Management Station, Community Cooling Hub, Machinery and Equipment Station, Clean Cold Energy Centre and Training, Testing and Referral Station, among others.
Further training will be announced shortly.
Department of Horticulture, Government of Haryana, India