By Degrees Magazine
Comment and analysis from the Clean Cooling Network
By Degrees aims to promote, explore and stimulate debate around the role of cooling as critical infrastructure, ensuring societal well-being, economic stability, and public health; adapting and mitigating the impacts of extreme heat to climate change.
Latest Articles
A Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Perspective for International Women’s Day
8th Mar 2026
As the world marks International Women’s Day, it is an opportunity to reflect on how systems such as food preservation and health can become more inclusive, resilient, and equitable.
Rwandan entrepreneur says ACES is breaking down “the biggest challenges” for African tech start-ups.
2nd Mar 2026
A Rwandan entrepreneur hoping to revolutionise marketplace cooling has said organisations like ACES are helping to break down “the biggest challenges” faced by African tech start-ups. Mihigo Bienvenue Heaven’s is developing multi-compartment, solar-powered refrigeration units for use in Rwanda’s marketplaces.
New Faces at ACES: Odile Mukeshimana, Diane Benimana and Juvenal Djangwani
9th Feb 2026
ACES has seen further expansion over the past six months, with 13 new staff members joining since August 2025. New arrivals have taken up positions across the organisation, including in the academic, research, and technical departments.
Impact of raising frozen food temperature by 3°C on cold-chain sustainability
4th Feb 2026
As ACES (Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain) explores the opportunity for frozen food in Africa, PhD student Lakshmi Wasana Gunathilaka Jayaweera Arachchilage investigates the impact of raising frozen food temperatures by 3ºc.
“I came to ACES with my child to learn more about cold-chain”
2nd Feb 2026
Mukandayambaje Clarisse discusses training at ACES with her baby, starting the Train the Trainer course, and setting up a ginger beer business.
"My training is helping me in my work": ACES students encourage others to join courses
29th Jan 2026
As applications draw to a close for the first ACES courses of 2026, the Clean Cooling Network asked former students to reflect on their experiences and share what they have gained through their training.
“Cold-chain is like the air we breathe”
22nd Jan 2026
When Dr Jean Pierre Musabyimana says with a smile that he “grew up alongside the healthcare system in Rwanda”, he really means it. His words are true in an obvious sense: the past three decades have seen dramatic improvements in Rwanda’s healthcare system.
ACES - A review of 2025
18th Dec 2025
Professor Toby Peters shares his reflections from 2025 on the enthusiastic, passionate and dedicated team of people that has been gathered together in ACES and how, collectively, they have rapidly turned an idea into reality, demonstrating that Rwanda can lead the world in developing innovative, climate-resilient, and inclusive cold-chains.
"On the right track": Zachary Kibiri on the successes and struggles of the Lari Cooperative
3rd Dec 2025
Zachary Kibiri, a Kenyan farmer and chairman of the Lari Cooperative, discusses the benefits of being part of the cooperative, the challenges they face and what they're focused on going forward.
"I’m very excited to be part of this movement": Head of Research, Jean Baptiste Ndahetuye, on five years at ACES
1st Dec 2025
Jean Baptiste Ndahetuye reflects on five years at ACES, including what he's most proud of, ACES's focus on community engagement and what he's looking forward to, in the next stage of work.
The Vaccine Cold-Chain Symposium charts a new path for climate-resilient immunisation across Africa
25th Nov 2025
As heatwaves intensify and climate extremes push health systems to their limits, one truth is becoming impossible to ignore: lives depend on the cold-chain. The symposium made several commitments to protect vaccines and support humans and animals, as well as leave a lifesaving legacy.
We have trained 2,000+ across Africa and are setting course to double capacity during 2026
18th Nov 2025
Having provided hands-on training to more than 2,000 farmers, technicians, and policymakers, we are now preparing for a significant scale-up of provision in 2026.
ACES graduate hopes to become Rwanda's leading supplier of rabbit meat
17th Nov 2025
Albertine Uwajeneza, a cold chain technician and rabbit farmer from Muhanga, Rwanda, is hoping to use cold chain technology to supply rabbit meat to upmarket bars, restaurants and supermarkets across the country.
Optimising the Vaccine Cold-Chain for Resilient Immunisation in Africa
14th Nov 2025
We are helping to pioneer climate-smart and data-driven approaches to optimise vaccine cold-chain performance and strengthen One Health resilience.
Inspired by the CCN’s Cold-Chain for Global Health Programme
12th Nov 2025
By combining observation, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Cold-Chain for Global Health trainees are forging a bold path forward, reflecting and replicating newly learned innovative models to develop actionable, scalable systems in their local contexts.
"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 day in the life of Nepo
24th Oct 2025
Benjamin Mugabo shows us through pictures, a day in the life of Nepo - a District Agriculture Sector Inspector in Rwanda.
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.
Help us accelerate deployment of sustainable cold-chains in the Global South and deliver a Cool World
10th Oct 2025
This month sees "A Cool World: Sustainable Cold-Chain for the Global South" taking place at the University of Birmingham in the UK, a landmark international conference organised by the Clean Cooling Network (CCN).
Lots of fun and some life-changing conversations – ACES Festival of Cooling
3rd Oct 2025
We are celebrating the role cooling plays in our lives, increasing the visibility of cold-chains to the public eye, inspiring Africa’s next generation to be part of the continent’s cooling transformation, and engaging farmers, innovators and entrepreneurs in ACES activities.
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?"
World Ozone Day
16th Sep 2025
The availability of trained engineers and technicians with the skill sets required to design, install, commission, operate, maintain and safely decommission clean cooling equipment, holds paramount importance in facilitating its widespread adoption.
The science of food freezing
9th Sep 2025
Why freeze food, what's the process and what factors affect storage life? Prof. Judith Evans details all this, as well as how ACES can support the development and adoption of a well-designed, optimised, sustainable cold-chain for frozen food in Africa.
Zombie appliances
5th Sep 2025
Refrigerated appliances that are dumped in often unregulated markets are termed "zombie appliances''. Prof. Judith Evans discusses their impact and what ACES are doing to support more energy-efficient options.
Cold-chain deployment: Questions from history
3rd Sep 2025
Dr Ed Hammond, who is working with the Clean Cooling Network on our design of equitable and sustainable Community Cooling Solutions for Africa, looks at some questions from history in terms of cold-chain deployment.
Making the cold-chain and clean cooling cool for schools
21st Aug 2025
Bringing cold-chain awareness into schools is about more than just teaching science. It’s about linking lessons to the food we eat, the vaccines we take, and the changing climate that we live in.
Cooling isn’t just nice to have; it is central to a modern civilisation
19th Aug 2025
Celebrating cooling through the Festival of Cooling. Without reliable ways of transporting food in a cooled environment, food arrives at its destination spoiled, sales are lost, and the livelihoods of farmers, fishers and other producers suffer. These stories are repeated across Rwanda and across Sub-Saharan Africa time and time again.
Frozen food: Is it an opportunity for smallholder farmers in the Global South?
15th Aug 2025
Dr Tim Fox, Dr Leyla Sayin and Professor Toby Peters argue that sub-zero cold-chains for frozen foods need to be central to the discussions at October's: "A Cool World: Sustainable Cold-Chain for the Global South" conference.
Building Africa’s resilience through cold-chain training for Global Health
13th Aug 2025
ACES’ One Health team - Jean Pierre Musabyimana, Hugor Shema and Ariane Mutabaruka - explore "Building Africa’s Resilience through Cold-Chain Training for Global Health"; one of the plenary topics to be covered at October's conference.
Is the cold-chain driven by need or greed?
12th Aug 2025
Dr Ed Hammond, specialist in refrigeration system design and development, asks the question: "Is the cold-chain driven by need or greed?" Did developed countries really have a greater need for cooling than the Global South?
A cool world: Accelerating the journey to sustainable cold-chain for the Global South
11th Aug 2025
The Global South faces significant challenges in adapting to climate change and building resilience against future climate shocks, not least in response to rising seasonal temperatures and more frequent, prolonged heat extremes.
Sharing the power of visualisation to affect change – ACES’s Visual Storytelling Course
8th Aug 2025
This two-month course empowers Rwandan and Kenyan students with the tools and insights to become visual storytellers - using photography not just for documentation, but as a powerful form of media advocacy.
ACES is building the skills base needed for sustainable refrigeration in Rwanda and beyond
6th Aug 2025
Here at ACES, we provide a range of practical, hands-on training courses and programmes that use advanced refrigeration facilities to replicate the real-world systems that engineers and technicians will encounter in the field.
Learning with ACES/CCN is taking off fast and innovative training is at its core
5th Aug 2025
At ACES, programme participants are not only trained to become fully equipped technicians/engineers capable of handling sophisticated technical tasks in the industry, but also developed into forward thinkers able to tackle pressing climate change issues and social challenges.
From food value chains to value webs
1st Aug 2025
At the CCN, we believe it’s time to embrace a new perspective: food systems behave less like a straight line and more like a complex network or "value web" - a system of interlinked value chains supporting joint production, processing, and exchange of products for multiple purposes.
“Born in Rwanda but pan-Africa in vision”
28th Jul 2025
The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) was conceived to increase and accelerate the adoption and uptake of resilient, efficient, inclusive and climate-friendly cooling and cold-chain.
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.
Cool spaces and addressing inequity in provision
24th Jun 2025
Although urbanisation is projected to continue increasing in the decades ahead, it is estimated that approximately half of the world’s stock of buildings that will exist through to the middle of the 21st Century has already been constructed.
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.
From loss to resilience: Building Rwanda’s cold-chain for inclusive food system transformation
5th Jun 2025
PART 1 - In this two part article we consider three interdependent pillars critical to developing an effective and efficient cold chain system in Rwanda.
Clean Cooling offers a path to resilience in Rwanda and beyond
19th May 2025
As countries across sub-Saharan Africa work to adapt to climate change, Rwanda is focusing on one of the lesser-known but critical challenges: access to resilient, efficient, affordable, inclusive and climate-friendly sustainable cooling and cold-chain.
The role of ACES in delivering agriculture transformation
11th May 2025
The Clean Cooling Network (CCN) is a global initiative “born in Rwanda” with a mission to make sustainable, resilient and equitable cooling and cold-chain a cornerstone of development.
Cold-chain infrastructure: A cornerstone of Rwanda's agricultural transformation
7th May 2025
Rwanda's ambitious five-year strategic plan for agriculture (PSTA 5) charts a course for significant strides in agricultural GDP growth.
Urban nature-based solutions – Reducing the cooling load
30th Apr 2025
Integrating nature-based cooling solutions into city planning and landscaping will be a key approach in mitigating the urban cooling load.
Cold-chain 2050 – 25 years of substantial change ahead?
11th Mar 2025
Refrigeration systems over the last 25 years have predominantly been vapour compression based1 and this core technology has not changed from the traditional direct expansion and overfeed systems.
Extreme heat, its impact on sport, and solutions for venue design
21st Feb 2025
High temperatures limit when we can play and consume sport and increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves are changing how we design sporting venues.
Adapting Africa’s food system to rising temperatures
18th Feb 2025
A bold action agenda with targets to improve food security, increase productivity, reduce post-harvest losses and stimulate investment in agriculture research, innovation, and scaling of adoption.
Passive cooling - A traditional approach that needs much greater uptake
17th Jan 2025
Passive cooling refers to a set of design principles and techniques that utilise natural processes to help maintain comfortable indoor temperatures without the need for active systems.
Rwanda: A journey of discovery and sustainable progress
4th Dec 2024
Rwanda, like much of Sub-Saharan Africa, faces the dual challenges of food insecurity and climate vulnerability. Rwanda is working tirelessly to build sustainable systems.
Living in a +50°C world - The system roadmap
3rd Dec 2024
Clean cooling and cold-chain solutions are not being implemented at the required scale on-the-ground in the Global South. What can practically be done to address them?
Community cooling for community services
3rd Dec 2024
We intend to build a first of a kind test and demonstration Community Cooling Hub (CCH) unit at the ACES campus, Kigali.
The cold economy
1st Jun 2024
Lack of cooling and cold-chain access is a critical development challenge that has significant implications for people’s livelihoods, productivity, health, food, and nutritional security.
Keeping cool in the future demands new questions now
30th Oct 2024
Cooling is critical infrastructure essential for food, health, safe places to live and work, and the production and storage of data that defines our modern world.
Improving the resilience of refugee camps to rising temperatures
29th Oct 2024
Ahead of COP29 and the discussions on adaptation, IMechE Fellow Dr Tim Fox outlines solutions to the challenges of adapting refugee camps for improved resilience to extreme heat.
Unlocking the potential of gender equality and social inclusion in cold-chains
19th Sep 2024
GESI is not just a moral imperative; it is crucial for driving innovation, increasing efficiency, and building resilience in the cold-chain space.
Self-organising virtual models to build cold-chain solutions
9th Oct 2024
Climate change introduces unprecedented uncertainty and ever-greater threats to the resilience of the global food supply chains, particularly in the global South.
Caught in an unsustainable evaluation trap?
16th Oct 2024
Very few sustainable evaluation methods are designed to produce meaningful evidence of the sustainable consequences of a proposed intervention.
The rise of electric vehicles and implications for the cold chain
18th Nov 2024
Transport accounts for around a third of global carbon dioxide emissions, with about 3/4 of transport emissions come from road transport.
The gig economy – high temperatures, inequity and vulnerability
31st Jan 2025
The gig economy is a rapidly expanding sector of the labour market globally and is characterised by short-term contracts and freelance assignments.
