The cold chain infrastructure plays a vital role in preserving perishable food items and ensuring its safe distribution from farm to consumer. It includes several processes such as precooling, refrigerated transport, storage, and distribution, which are essential for maintaining food quality and safety throughout the supply chain. The cold chain industry is growing rapidly with an expected CAGR of 20–30% and is increasingly being viewed as a sunrise sector with significant investment potential. In Assam, efforts are underway to expand cold chain infrastructure, with new units being set up across several districts.

However, cold chain also contributes substantially to GHG emissions. Theses emissions primarily arise from two sources – refrigerants leak which have high global warming potential, and energy use including electricity to operate cold chain equipment and diesel fuel for refrigerated transport vehicles. While cold chains play a vital role in preserving perishable food and enabling distribution, their development must be aligned with sustainability goals to minimise their environmental impact. The demand for cold chain will continue to rise to address country’s food security challenges, therefore, developing sustainable cold chains with minimal GHG emissions is crucial.

In this context, WRI India in collaboration with Assam Climate Change Management Society (ACCMS), Govt. of Assam, is working towards development of a Cooling Action Plan for the Assam. This plan focuses on four key sectors: buildings, cold chain, industry, and transport, with the overarching goal of promoting sustainable cooling solutions and mitigating associated GHG emissions.

Objective of the meeting: This stakeholder meeting aims to bring together key actors from government agencies, research institutions, civil society, academia, and private sector to

  • Understand stakeholder priorities to align the Cooling Action Plan with Assam’s specific needs.
  • Discuss current and future cooling energy demand in the cold chain sector.
  • Suggest key recommendations to promote a sustainable cold chain in the state.
  • Address unmet cooling demand and its impact on incomes and livelihoods especially for farmers.
  • Identify potential facilities for energy audits to support implementation of sustainable cooling solutions.
  • Explore strategies to improve energy efficiency and integrate renewable energy in cold chain operations.