Undertaken By: Centre for Environment Education, Recent Publication: 2020
Cooling is inter-linked with several aspects of human health and wellbeing. In a warming world, protection of fresh and nutritious food, safe medicines and protection of the population from extreme heat are essential. Cooling is also directly related to work conditions, economic productivity of the working population, and income generation. An estimate suggests that due to extreme heat, the Indian economy can lose productivity worth $450 billion by 2030. As average temperatures, India faces the dilemma of meeting the increased needs for cooling for human well-being without increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Cooling needs are particularly critical for the agriculture sector. In India, up to 40% of food is lost post-harvest because of lack of cold chain. Climate-friendly cooling and efficient cold-chain can be achieved if the entire system is designed cohesively and an integrated systems approach is applied, which converges diverse cooling requirements. By combining a systems-level view of such community cooling needs, Community Cooling Hubs (CCHs) are designed to meet various rural community cooling needs, providing a pathway to efficient capacity utilisation of cold chains. This initiative explores how integrated ‘Community Cooling Hubs’ can help farming communities in India reduce food waste, increase their income and meet rural communities’ cooling needs in an affordable and sustainable way.