Paris, 27 July 2021 ̶ The Global Food Cold Chain Council (GFCCC) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) OzonAction announced the launch of their Cold Chain Database and Modelling initiative. The initiative marks the first formal step to assist developing countries in identifying their cold chain baseline along with their consumption of relevant HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) or HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) or other refrigerants.
The initiative, developed in 2019, kicked off at the 31st Meeting of Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Rome, Italy, concluded with the Rome Declaration on “The Contribution of the Montreal Protocol to Food Loss Reduction through Sustainable Cold Chain Development”. The launch also comes in advance of the United Nations Food Systems Summit.
With the support provided by the Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral Fund, the Cold Chain Database initiative is currently being piloted in six countries – Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Maldives, North Macedonia, Paraguay, and Senegal. From these pilot data gathering initiatives, a model is being developed that will allow the projection of benefits of cold chain expansion.
The GFCCC is an independent not-for-profit industry organization that seeks to simultaneously reduce food waste, and related greenhouse gas emissions in the processing, transportation, storage, and retail display of cold food by expanding and improving access to energy-efficient low-global warming potential technology.
The Cold Chain Database concept, methodology and data collection questionnaires, are offered to interested countries and partners to provide help in assessing local cold chain capacities and designing respective action plans and policies.
To read about the GFCCC Press Release on the cold chain database initiative, please download
GFCCC-UNEP OzonAction Cold Chain Modelling Press Release
For more details about the database concept and methodology, please download
GFCCC-UNEP Cold Chain Database Methodology Final
For countries or partners interested in using the model data collection detailed questionnaires, please fill in the Expression of Interest form and return it.
Expression of Interest and NDA of Cold Chain Database.
For more information:
Ayman Eltalouny
Coordinator International Partnerships
OzonAction, Law Division
Email: ayman.eltalouny[at]un.org
