From The Rome Declaration Commitments to Transformational Action on Delivering Sustainable Food Cold Chains for All Interacting with Experts Date: Thursday, 28 October 2021 Time: 18:00-19:30 EAT/17:00-18:30 CET Virtual Side event to: COP12(II)/33rd Meeting of Parties to the Montreal Hosted By: Government of Italy, FAO, Cool Coalition, Ozone Secretariat, UNEP OzonAction, Climate and Clean Air Coalition BACKGROUND Scaling up action on efficient, climate friendly cold chains is a key piece of the puzzle to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the Montreal Protocol. Lack of effective cold chain is estimated to directly result in losses of 475 million tonnes or 13% of total food production. At the same time, refrigeration equipment used in the food cold-chain is responsible for 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Ensuring “field to fork” connectivity with sustainable cold chain solutions can help nutritiously feed 10 billion people, support the wellbeing of hundreds of millions of small-scale farmers, and reduce food loss and wastage, while avoiding direct and indirect GHG emissions. As highlighted during the UN Food Systems Summit Independent Dialogue on Sustainable Cold Chains, several challenges exist to deliver sustainable food cold chains for all. These include lack of awareness on their benefits and of robust data, insufficient consideration to the multidimensional character of food cold chains and a tendency to work in silos, operational and commercial limitations of sustainable refrigerant options and insufficient skilled technicians. Policy, finance, technology solutions to overcome these challenges exist, and best practices in their implementation abound. Countries must leverage these opportunities as they move from their political commitments made through the Rome Declaration under the Montreal Protocol to transformational action. OBJECTIVES OF THE SESSIONS During this session, participants will be able to interact with a panel of experts from governments, private sector, international organisations on issues related to sustainable food cold chains in the context of progress made since the adoption of the Rome Declaration. The discussion will revolve around available best practices in sustainable food cold chains (including on technologies, business aspects, market challenges and policies), challenges to scale them up and possible solutions to address these, which the parties and signatories can use to back up their commitments under the Rome Declaration. The event will also inform of the outcomes of the independent dialogue on sustainable cold chains at the UNFSS, draw attention to the virtual sustainable food cold chain technology exhibition and upcoming Global Sustainable Cold Chain Status Report, and raise awareness on possible further action around the Rome Declaration and sustainable cold chains. It will also touchbase on relevant ongoing initiatives and programs. The expert panel with whom the participants will be able to interact will include representatives from Italy, FAO, Cool Coalition, Ozone Secretariat, UNEP OzonAction, CCAC, Academia, financing institutions and the private sector.