Navigating Sustainability in Cold Chain Management
Thanks to advancements in refrigerants, packaging, and temperature control, companies can transport fresh and frozen foods and temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals around the globe via land, sea, and air. This is called the cold chain and it underpins most of the world’s food and medical supply chains.
While cold chains are essential, they can also generate significant greenhouse gas emissions, especially when products travel long distances. With customers, regulatory authorities, and C-suites and boards becoming increasingly focused on ESG objectives, supply chain and transportation teams are experiencing new pressures to achieve more ambitious sustainability goals. New tools and tactics are the key to reducing emissions footprints, cutting waste, and improving cold chain sustainability across industries.
Why Cold Chain Sustainability Matters
Cold chain management and logistics are essential for maintaining the integrity of perishable goods like food and pharmaceuticals. However, the energy required to cool these products across their entire journey from manufacturer to end-customer is considerable.
The use of refrigerants such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and diesel-powered transportation are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, many companies use single-use packing materials to insulate products that end up in landfills. Addressing these issues is important for reducing environmental impact and meeting increased consumer demand for sustainable practices.
How Cold Chain Sustainability Has Changed
The intensive energy requirements of mechanical refrigeration will always cause some degree of environmental impact. However, the scale of global cold chains has amplified that harm.
The expansion of international trade has made it possible for consumers to access fresh foods year-round and for pharmaceutical manufacturers to expand into new markets. But because products now travel further to reach consumers, cold chains require even more energy to operate.
As cold chain trade continues to scale, governments have enacted more stringent regulations around the storage and transportation of temperature-sensitive products. These rules protect consumer health by guaranteeing higher standards of quality and safety.
Shipments subject to temperature excursions can suffer shelf life and quality control issues, which can contribute to food waste in the supply chain and increase the environmental burden of the cold chain industry.
Challenges in Cold Chain Sustainability
Cold chains are inherently complex, which makes implementing sustainability practices all the more difficult. Transportation teams must contend with:
Infrastructure Challenges
Cold chains depend on intricate logistics networks that can span coasts, countries, and continents. Any break in the cold chain leaves shipments vulnerable to temperature excursions, which can shorten shelf life, reduce product quality, and contribute to foodborne illnesses. Recooling products after temperature excursions also contributes to increased energy consumption.
Energy Consumption and Environmental Concerns
Cold chain operations are energy-intensive and often rely heavily on non-renewable energy sources. This results in carbon emissions that impact companies’ ESG objectives — and the planet. Transitioning to renewable energy sources to power both storage facilities and refrigerated transport can offset environmental impacts, but can also be costly or operationally difficult.
Complex Regulatory Landscapes
Compliance with safety and quality control standards requires control over shipment temperatures at every stage of the cold chain, which can be made easier using real-time visibility. Products exposed to unsafe temperatures for extended periods of time can endanger public health and expose companies to liabilities.
Strategies for Cold Chain Sustainability
Despite historical hurdles, new technologies and innovations are driving sustainability progress in all aspects of the cold chain. Advancements in areas from packaging to temperature monitoring have improved energy efficiency, reduced waste, and minimized environmental impact.
Sustainable Packaging
Insulated shippers and protective packaging are necessary to protect temperature-sensitive products while in transit. Often these materials end up discarded after only one use.
However, new types of more durable, recyclable packaging enable companies to continuously reuse them. Reusable thermal pallet covers made with durable materials also do a better job at insulating products compared with disposable alternatives, limiting temperature deviations, which in turn reduces food loss in the cold chain and saves money.
For packaging that can’t be reused or repurposed, switching to 100% recycled material or FSC/SFI-certified paper products can still make a positive contribution to sustainability efforts.
Energy-Efficient Refrigeration Systems
Energy-efficient refrigeration systems are critical to reducing cold chains’ carbon footprints. Advanced technologies such as magnetic refrigeration and solar-powered cooling units offer lower energy consumption while reducing operational costs over time. Additionally, transitioning from diesel tractors to electric vehicles can further offset greenhouse gas emissions.
Route and Logistics Optimization
Cloud-based software solutions enable real-time route tracking throughout the cold chain. IoT devices located in shipments continuously transmit location and temperature data to the cloud system. Logistics teams can see where shipments are located at all times and receive instant alerts if significant temperature deviations occur. This visibility allows teams to pinpoint breaks in the cold chain that would be otherwise impossible to spot so they can intervene to safeguard products and solve cooling inefficiencies.
Connected cold chain solutions like Carrier’s Lynx™ digital ecosystem deliver real-time insights at each stage of the supply chain, giving teams the information they need to decrease energy use, emissions, and food waste.
Waste Reduction Strategies
Plastics, foams, and other disposal materials are typically used to insulate products throughout the cold chain. Adopting a circular business model that prioritizes renewal and reuse minimizes waste from single-use shipping materials and products.
Many temperature monitors are also single-use, adding to the plastic waste generated in the cold chain. Sensitech’s Device Takeback Program aims to keep time and data collection instruments out of landfills by collecting used devices for renewal or reuse.
Real-Time Monitoring and IoT Technologies
IoT temperature monitors and temperature-sensitive supply chain software enable logistics teams to better control and optimize cold chain operations. The insights gathered via these solutions give teams the visibility needed to predict and prevent future cold chain disruptions and deviations. These interventions help improve cooling efficiency by eliminating conditions that expose products to temperatures that are too high.
The Future of the Cold Chain
In the coming years, cold chains will evolve as they incorporate innovative new technologies. For example, logistics solutions and temperature monitoring software are already embedding AI-driven capabilities into their platforms. As AI matures, the benefits it can deliver in terms of predictive analytics, real-time decision-making, and automated responses to temperature excursions will significantly enhance the efficiency and sustainability of cold chain operations.
Final Thoughts
Enhancing sustainability throughout the supply chain is an ongoing project. While there’s no single solution to reducing your cold chain’s carbon footprint, optimizing your temperature management strategies is the best place to start. Access to real-time temperature data provides the insights you need to minimize temperature vulnerabilities throughout your supply chain while enhancing energy efficiency and reducing waste.
Sensitech’s SensiWatch Platform gives you end-to-end visibility into your cold chain so you can effectively monitor shipments anywhere in the world. Reach out to learn how our temperature monitoring technology can empower you to make progress toward your cold chain sustainability goals.
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