This website uses cookies primarily for visitor analytics. Certain pages will ask you to fill in contact details to receive additional information. On these pages you have the option of having the site log your details for future visits. Indicating you want the site to remember your details will place a cookie on your device. To view our full cookie policy, please click here. You can also view it at any time by going to our Contact Us page.

Close

Initiative launched to raise the temperature of frozen food to help reduce carbon emissions

29 November 2023

Academic research has concluded that raising the standard temperature of most frozen food by 3°C could cut carbon emissions by the equivalent of taking 3.8m cars off the road.

Scientists concluded that this increase could be made without compromising food safety or quality. Global logistics firm, DP World has launched an industry coalition to reconsider the international temperature standard – -18°C – which was established in the 1930s and has not been overhauled in almost a century.
  
A move to -15°C could make a significant environmental impact with no compromise on food safety or quality. Experts, from the International Institute of Refrigeration, the University of Birmingham and London South Bank University, among others, found that the small change could save 17.7 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year; Create energy savings of around 25 terawatt-hours (TW/h) - equivalent to 8.63% of the UK’s annual energy consumption; and reduce costs in the supply chain by at least 5% and in some areas by up to 12%.??  

The research was supported by DP World, which has set up an industry-wide coalition to explore the feasibility of this change – named Join the Move to -15°C.?The coalition aims to redefine frozen food temperature standards to cut greenhouse gases, lower supply chain costs and secure food resources for the world’s growing population.??  

Professor Toby Peters, University of Birmingham and Heriot-Watt University and director of the Centre for Sustainable Cooling, said: “The UN predicts a population of 9.7 billion by 2050. To ensure food accessibility, we must close the 56% gap in the global food supply between what was produced in 2010 and what will be needed in 2050.??  

“Cutting cold chain emissions and transforming how food is safely stored and moved today helps ensure we can keep sustainably feeding communities across the globe as populations and global temperatures rise, protecting nutritious food sources for years to come.  
  
To find out more or join the initiative, please visit DP World’s website.  


Print this page | E-mail this page