This week, the African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) was pleased to announce Carrier Global Corporation as its first formal industry partner.  The collaboration will help to advance the Centre’s work on sustainable cold chain development in Africa and supports Carrier’s focus on expanding the cold chain.

As a leading global provider of innovative healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions, Carrier will bring their expertise and resources to enhancing the Centre’s ability to provide capacity building for farmers and refrigeration technicians, skills development for students and supply chain professionals, and demonstration of best-in-class technology for the sustainable development of the cold chain across Africa.

“Collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors can drive transformational cold chain development and growth,” said Tim White, President, Carrier Refrigeration. “We’re pleased to partner with ACES to make a meaningful difference across Africa, as the potential benefits of these collective efforts  are far reaching and can positively impact the cold chain from farmers and manufacturers to consumers with wide-reaching benefits.”

As an ACES partner, Carrier will join the United Nations Environment Programme’s United for Efficiency initiative, the University of Rwanda, the Centre for Sustainable Cooling and UK academic partners, including the University of Birmingham, London South Bank University, Centre for Sustainable Road Freight and Cranfield University, and Governments of the United Kingdom and Rwanda (through REMA, the Rwanda Environment Management Authority).

“Turning food loss into nutritionally available food is essential for Africa’s sustainable development, as well as building the food systems that are used to feed people in times of shocks,” said Toby Peters, Centre for Sustainable Cooling Director and Professor of Cold Economy at the University of Birmingham and Heriot-Watt University. “Global leaders have recently agreed that the only way to overcome food insecurity is by working together to create innovative partnerships within the global community.”

To learn more about becoming an ACES partner, click here to download the ACES Pathways to Industry Engagement brochure and Expression of Interest Form, or contact Alice Moreau, Partner Engagements and SPOKEs Lead, UNEP U4E, alice.moreau@un.org.