Rwanda and the UK joined the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to sign a statement of cooperation at the just concluded COP27 to scale up innovative cooling technologies in Africa through the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain.
Rwanda’s Minister for Environment Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, whose ministry oversees the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), Minister of State Lord Richard Benyon from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and Emmanuel Nyirinkindi, Vice-President, IFC signed the agreement at the global climate change event in Egypt.
Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment said: “The signed statement of cooperation indicates the commitment of our two countries, financing institutions, academia, civil society, and others joining hands to find sustainable solutions to the challenges that are impacting our environment.
“With ACES, we seek to deploy the best cooling and cold-chain solutions, which are critical to underpinning a prosperous, healthy, integrated, and climate-friendly food supply chain globally. There is no doubt that ACES will contribute to achieving the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, Rwanda vision 2050, and Africa 2063 agenda.”
ACES had already announced at COP 27 that it will work with global cold chain provider Carrier to help advance cooling development and training in Africa. ACES goal is to accelerate the deployment of sustainable (environmentally, economically, and socially), resilient, temperature-controlled, end-to-end connectivity for food and health products.
This simultaneously protects quality and safety, minimizes loss, and creates and provides equitable value to all stakeholders.
Emmanuel Nyirinkindi, Vice-President, of IFC, said that as part of the UK-IFC partnership supporting sustainable cooling innovations, this program has helped identify, pilot, and field test more than 60 innovative cooling technologies in agribusiness, hospitality, and retail since 2019.”
The TechEmerge Program will facilitate knowledge sharing, connections, and partnerships between innovators and ACES, which will help them deploy their innovative technologies at scale across Africa.
source: Rwanda Today
