CII B20 Post-Harvest & Logistics Summit 2023
At present, global food loss and waste is about 30%. The world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and these emissions are expected to 685 PPM CO2-equivalent by 2050. This creates a need for sustainable climate friendly innovations that can help prevent post-harvest losses and contribute to nutritious food and Agri supply chain. We need to think geographically while having innovations for Global problems and reorientate them towards resolving Global challenges.
GHG emissions from food loss are also significant contributors to India’s GHG emissions. To meet our target to be Net Zero by 2070, the Indian Government has made considerable progress in its efforts towards decoupling economic growth from GHG emissions. Investments in cold chain can significantly contribute towards food loss reduce and efforts are made globally and in India towards Decarbonization in the post-harvest supply chain.
Although the World Bank estimates that around US$ 56 billion is spent every year on agricultural research, investment in post-harvest innovation is not expanding at the rate that is needed to address climate change and prevent pre- and post- harvest losses. Taking this further pillar of Global Action Agenda for Innovation in Agriculture was launched in COP26.
On similar lines, Cool Coalition has come together rapidly to ensure the transition to efficient, climate-friendly cooling for all is fundamental for climate action and sustainable development in association with UNEP.
Going forward, an approach is needed to redefine the cold-chain architecture and map the opportunities available to reach net-zero emissions by 2070 as well as identify the roles for innovative and sustainable cooling technologies. A study by the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) shows for example, that, at global level, an improved global cold chain would allow for a reduction of almost 50% of the CO2 emissions of the current cold chain. Similarly, such an improved cold chain would avoid 55% of the food losses attributable to a lack of cold chain and thus significantly contribute to food security. (Source: the carbon footprint of the cold chain, IIR)
The changing climate ecosystem is poised to create economical, business, and social risk in future. It is more critical to be cognizant of the fact that it will impact the food basket of any country disrupting food production, and thus food availability.
Climate change is a direct consequence of carbon-heavy land-use and agriculture, transport, buildings and industrial processes and polluting energy sources. Without necessary interventions in these sectors, it will be difficult to protect the environment from the effects of higher temperature.
Carbon Emissions is one of the most critical problems the world is facing today, bound to have detrimental impact on business as well as people in society. To swiftly avert the impact of green gas emission is to transform the manner of consuming and producing energy into the system.
Further, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which has already been ratified by 149 nations to date, requires a phasedown of high global warming potential refrigerants and it is estimated that such action can avoid up 0.5°C of global warming by the end of the century.
Replacing HFCs creates at the same time an opportunity to increase energy efficiency and thus to reduce energy costs for users.
As per the reports, there is need for 45 percent reduction in the global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2030 to reach a net zero by 2070. Global warming is proportional to cumulative CO2 emissions, which means that the planet will keep heating for as long as global emissions remain more than zero. This implies that climate damage, caused by global heating, will continue escalating for as long as emissions continue.
This summit aims at bringing to light the necessary strategies that support countries on their journey to reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emission for a Net Zero Future. Achieving Net Zero requires coordinated action which touches on many aspects of a country. The daunting task can be broken down into strategic and manageable pathways for transformation that starts with analytics, moves on to developing solutions, and ends in implementing change. This will lead to the strategies, to make transformational shifts to address climate change and its adverse impact of food and agriculture security.