Missed the Your VCCA E-Summit?

Introduction

The world of agri-cooling is growing fast, and Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant (Your VCCA) recently brought it to life in a day-long, online gathering that connected minds from every corner of this ecosystem. Cooling companies, development practitioners, financiers, and government officials came together to share knowledge, ideas, and innovations aimed at one goal: building systems that reduce postharvest loss, lower emissions, improve farmer livelihoods, and strengthen food security.

The summit unfolded across 12 sessions, tied together by a clear “red thread” guiding participants through the journey from feasibility studies to design, from business models for cooling to digital integration, and finally to governance, community inclusion, gender considerations, and market linkage strategies.

The global interest was undeniable: 450 registrants from 48 countries joined the event, reflecting both the urgent need for agri-cooling solutions and the desire for a wider platform to exchange ideas and collaborate.

Beyond the main sessions, many technical side sessions offered deep dives into topics like:

• Life cycle assessments for calculating greenhouse gas reductions from cold rooms

• Passive cooling experiments

• The Your VCCA Onboarding Kit, which ties these themes together and provides practical tools and videos to guide agri-cooling projects

If you missed the summit, the recordings and presentations are available to catch up on these rich discussions, explore innovative approaches, and equip yourself with practical tools to advance your own work in agri-cooling.

Session 1: Opening Remarks

Session 2: Decentralised Cooling: Promise, Pitfalls & Practicality

Access presentations from Session 2 here.

Explore practical, decentralised cooling technologies that can transform smallholder farming. The session covers the physical principles behind cooling, methods for selecting the right technology for each use case, and the feasibility of these solutions across different value chains. Through real-world case studies from Kenya, we highlight how companies are overcoming barriers of cost, complexity, and scalability in solar-powered cold chains. We also discuss how remote monitoring technologies are improving efficiency, food safety, and long-term sustainability.

Session 3: Designing Bankable Solar Cold Rooms: What Works and Why

Access presentations from Session 3 here.

Discover how to specify, procure, and operate walk-in cold rooms (WICRs) that perform reliably in hot, off- or weak-grid settings while meeting investor, insurer, and buyer requirements. The session links technical decisions to quality assurance and commissioning practices that ensure long-term performance. Drawing on real projects from Africa and Asia, it shows how design specs, site QA, and technician training translate into bankable performance and safer refrigerant choices, offering actionable takeaways to navigate CAPEX/OPEX trade-offs, meet quality standards, and select viable first-mile cooling business models.

Session 4: Financing the Cold Chain: Investment Models that Scale

Presentations Coming Soon.

Discover how innovative financing models are unlocking scalable cold chain solutions in underserved markets. Leading investors and ecosystem enablers, including ResponsAbility, the Carbon Trust, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and PG Impact Verein, share how they support companies to grow, become investor-ready, and scale solutions. Examples include KoelFresh in India and Koolboks’ pay-as-you-go solar-powered fridges. The session highlights what it takes to bridge financing gaps and accelerate clean cold chain solutions.

Session 5: Estimating GHG emissions with Life Cycle Assessment (Side Event)

Presentation Coming Soon.

Learn how Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides a framework for estimating greenhouse gas emissions across the fresh produce life cycle, from cultivation to end-of-life disposal. Participants will understand the principles, methodology, and applications of LCA in quantifying carbon footprints and identifying opportunities to reduce emissions. This session also demonstrates how LCA supports transparent, data-driven strategies for improving sustainability in cold chain operations.

Session 6: Data is Collateral: Using Crops and Cold Room Data for Credit Access and Risk Management

Access presentations from Session 6 here.

See how data from cold rooms, crops, and digital value chains can unlock credit access and strengthen risk management in agriculture. The session shows how connecting data-driven insights with financing mechanisms supports sustainable cold chain growth and empowers smallholder farmers.

Session 7: Passive Cooling in Action: Lessons from West Africa (Side Event)

Presentation Coming Soon.

Examine how passive cooling technologies help smallholder farmers in West Africa reduce post-harvest losses, preserve nutrition, and strengthen livelihoods amid rising temperatures and limited refrigeration access. This session brings together practitioners and researchers to share lessons from real-world deployments, discuss technology performance in rural communities, and highlight strategies for supporting farmer adoption. Speakers will also explore key challenges for scaling these solutions and practical approaches to expand access and impact.

Session 8: The Innovation Arena: Fundable Ideas in Cooling and Food Systems

Access presentations from Session 8 here.

Experience a dynamic 60-minute session at the Global YourVCCA Summit, designed to highlight breakthrough solutions in the agri-cooling space. Four companies, selected through a competitive application process, will pitch their business models and technologies to a panel of leading investors with the goal of securing investment, partnerships, and visibility. Each company will have five minutes to present, followed by a seven-minute Q&A with investors. This fast-paced format allows entrepreneurs to showcase the scalability, impact, and financial viability of their innovations, while demonstrating how their solutions advance sustainable cooling and food systems.

Session 9: Cooling for All: Gender, Inclusion & Ownership in Agri-cooling

Access presentations from Session 9 here.

Unpack how inclusive design, gender-responsive training, community ownership, and equitable governance can enable fair and sustainable access to agri-cooling. This session draws on insights from both academia and on-the-ground practice to showcase approaches for integrating GESI into cooling solutions. Participants will learn from real-world experiences of gender integration and discuss how cold rooms can be effectively embedded within local agricultural and entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Session 10: What is Coldtivate and how can the Onboarding Kit support its adoption? (Side Event)

Presentation Coming Soon.

Discover how Coldtivate, a digital, data-driven app used across West Africa and India, is transforming cold room management and Cooling-as-a-Service. This session highlights the challenges of manual operations, demonstrates how Coldtivate optimises performance, and shows how operational data can be leveraged to expand impact. Participants will also learn about key resources, including the onboarding kit and open-source release, to engage further with the app. Join us in this session to explore the Coldtivate app and learn how, for cooling companies and customers alike, Coldtivate can transform Cooling-as-a-Service.

Session 11: Market Systems – Enabling Value Chains and Scale

Presentation Coming Soon.

Explore how market systems, access, and linkages shape the future of smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries, with a focus on fresh produce cold chain solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. While solar-powered cold storage provides critical post-harvest value, reliable market access remains a decisive factor for adoption, repayment, and long-term success. Drawing from research and field evidence, including Hystra’s work on agro-PURE technologies and the “Smartcoolmarket” pilot, the session examines why market access is critical, how it influences cold chain business models, and what can be learned from organisations facilitating farmer-to-market linkages.

Session 12: Wrap-up and Closing remarks

The summit may be over, but the exchange of ideas lives on. Explore the speaker profiles here and connect with them to continue the conversation. In case you have any questions or ideas for collaboration, reach out to us at info@yourvcca.org.

BASE Foundation and Empa gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the ClimateWorks Foundation in making this event possible.