Eighteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Over the past year, we witnessed massive supply chain failures during the COVID-19 pandemic in many ways. The food supply chain broke, the product supply chain broke, manufacturing, shipping, etc. One of the most glaring failures was our vaccine distributions in part due to our ability to transport with proper refrigeration. These issues won’t just fade away - by the end of the century, the refrigeration industry will grow 33x as demand for fresh products—e.g. food, blood, plasma & drugs—increases across the globe. This massive growth is a major concern given refrigerant emissions have up to 9000x more warming effect on the planet than CO2. Fixing refrigeration is essential to combating climate change while also contributing to a healthier global population with access to medicine and fresh foods. We dive into the many different facets of the refrigerant challenge as it relates to climate change, as well as how emerging smart technologies and solutions along the cold chain can help improve refrigeration efficiency. We will also discuss recent studies done on smart solutions and how they can reduce emissions by 3.4 billion Metric Tons of CO2, which would have an enormous impact on the fight against climate change.