Cold chains play a critical role in improving food and nutrition security and get a lot of attention from the development
community working in low- and middle-income countries. Over the last few years, the development community high-level ambitions were converted into projects with very mixed results with stranded cold chain assets being the reality on the ground and limited uptake from private sector. There is growing momentum to address this existing knowledge gap,
especially since development organisations are rapidly scaling the number of cooling projects. The Cool Move R&D
Accelerator aims to create the necessary knowledge base and strategic decision-making support tools for developing viable and climate-smart cold chain sector delivering on societal ambitions. The approach will address (1) a sector-wide and regional inventory of cold chain development approaches, their results and realized impacts, (2) co-development of
innovative approaches and decision support tools with the Community of Practice and (3) the creation of toolkits for
development organisations, private sector, policymakers and financial institutes. The Netherlands plays a leading role in the export of cold chain technologies, import of produce handled through cold chains, provision of financial solutions through the Rabobank and is an internationally recognised knowledge partner. This PPP will strengthen this position even further and create many opportunities for businesses, financial and knowledge institutes in the Netherlands, while achieving the required developmental impact in low- and middle-income countries.

The objective of the Cool Move R&D Accelerator is to create the necessary knowledge base and strategic decision support
tools for developing impactful cold chain projects for low- and middle-income countries.

The Cool Move R&D PPP aligns very strongly with MMIP 4E – Food security, now and in the future (Global, EU, Netherlands). This proposal will deliver cross-cutting results in three of the four sub-programmes, being:
• (#2) Sustainable and inclusive growth of the production systems and agrifood sectors in low- and middle-income
countries. This project will contribute to the sustainable growth of the cold chains in the agrifood sectors.
• (#3) Reducing food loss and waste. Technically, 12% of all the food waste can be avoided by effective development and use of cold chains, However, the current challenge is to make it commercially viable.
• (#4) Transition to sustainable and healthy diets in low- and middle-income countries. The global alliance for improved nutrition (GAIN) has urged donors to invest in food system infrastructure, including cold chains, to improve diets of people in low- and middle-income countries.
By improving understanding and decision support to cold chain development, the contribution to these three sub programmes can be accelerated drastically.

The expected results and deliverables include (1) a sector-wide inventory of cold chain development approaches, their
results and realized impact, (2) the co-development of innovative approaches and decision support tools with the community of practice and (3) the creation of toolkits for development organisations, private sector, policymakers and
financial institutes.