LWV24134 Cool Move R&D Accelerator (TS-02-219-008)

Cold chains play a critical role in improving food and nutrition security and get a lot of attention from the development community working in low- and middle-income countries. Over the last few years, the development community high-level ambitions were converted into projects with very mixed results with stranded cold chain assets being the reality on the ground and limited uptake from private sector. There is growing momentum to address this existing knowledge gap, especially since development organisations are rapidly scaling the number of cooling projects. The Cool Move R&D Accelerator aims to create the necessary knowledge base and strategic decision-making support tools for developing viable and climate-smart cold chain sector delivering on societal ambitions. The approach will address (1) a sector-wide and regional inventory of cold chain development approaches, their results and realized impacts, (2) co-development of innovative approaches and decision support tools with the Community of Practice and (3) the creation of toolkits playbooks for development organisations, private sector, policymakers and financial institutes. The Netherlands plays a leading role in the export of cold chain technologies, import of produce handled through cold chains, provision of financial solutions through the Rabobank and is an internationally recognised knowledge partner. This PPP will strengthen this position even further and create many opportunities for businesses, financial and knowledge institutes in the Netherlands, while achieving the required developmental impact in low- and middle-income countries.