More consistent refrigeration of foods as they move from one part of the supply chain to another could cut almost 2bn tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from food loss each year, according to a new study.
Around one-third of all food produced goes to waste, producing climate-warming greenhouse gases as it rots.
New research, published in Environmental Research Letters, finds that poorly temperature-controlled food supply chains could be causing up to 620m tonnes of food losses each year.
This loss results in 1.8bn tonnes of CO2-equivalent (GtCO2e) emissions – more than three times the annual emissions of Canada.
Using more refrigeration when food is processed and transported could more than halve the food-loss emissions in south and south-east Asia, the study says.
In addition, shortening food supply chains could significantly reduce emissions and prevent food loss around the world, the study finds.
A scientist who was not involved in the research tells Carbon Brief that the results “reflect a worrying reality” on food waste, but notes that the findings are “uncertain”.
The lead author of the study says that there are caveats to some of the findings and adds that not every region can, or should, base their food supply system on refrigeration.
Wasted food
Along a supply chain that sees food grown, processed, transported and consumed, around one-third of all food goes to waste.
If it were a country, this food waste would be the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
A 2023 study also found that greenhouse gases from food loss and waste make up almost half of all food-system emissions.
Food loss refers to all of the edible parts of food that are thrown away in the early parts of the supply chain, according to a report from the UN Environment Programme.
This includes vegetables that rot in fields before being picked, crops hit by disease and meat that spoils due to lack of transport refrigeration.
Food waste, on the other hand, is discarded food that is not consumed by people at a retail, food service or household level.
Food loss and waste produces methane as it rots in landfills or dump sites. Emissions from food loss also stem from the land-use change, energy and resources required to grow the food in the first place, particularly animal products.
The new study examines whether more consistent access to refrigeration throughout the supply chain could impact food loss – and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions – for different food types around the world.
Alongside the benefits of refrigeration, the study finds that supplying foods more locally can greatly reduce food losses.
This was the most surprising finding, according to Aaron Friedman-Heiman, the lead author of the study. Friedman-Heiman, a recent graduate from the school for environment and sustainability at the University of Michigan, tells Carbon Brief:
“The thing that shocked me the most was actually how comparable shortened food supply chains were to technologically optimised food supply chains.
“We can make all these systems really efficient, but also if we just get rid of a lot of the steps, that is another kind of way of optimising these systems.”
Prof Ian Vázquez-Rowe, an engineering professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru who was not involved in the research, says that the study is “thorough” and relevant, “especially in countries and households with poor refrigeration systems”. He tells Carbon Brief:
“The results are probably quite uncertain, as in most planetary-based estimations, but they reflect a worrying reality: food supply chains are inefficient, especially in emerging and developing nations, and this leads to higher amounts of food loss and waste in the agri-food sector.”
Estimating food loss
The researchers developed a model to see whether consistent access to refrigeration could impact food losses and greenhouse gas emissions for seven groups of food: seafood; fruit and vegetable; oilseeds and pulses; root and tuber crops; meat; dairy; and cereals.
The study focuses solely on food that is lost between harvesting and reaching a supermarket shelf. It does not look at food waste, which is the food discarded in shops, restaurants and households.
The researchers look at the improvements that could occur with better refrigeration throughout the food supply chain. They also look at the impact of making food more locally available, thereby shortening these supply chains.
The study focuses on seven regions around the world: Europe, “industrialised Asia” (countries such as China), Latin America, north Africa and central Asia, North America and Oceania, south and south-east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
For each combination of region and food type, the researchers investigate three scenarios: a “baseline” scenario, using current loss rates; an “optimised” scenario, using minimum loss rates with added refrigeration capacity; and a “short” scenario, using current loss rates across a reduced supply chain.
The chart below outlines the baseline and optimised scenarios for food loss and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions. It shows that although fruit and vegetable losses are largest in terms of weight, meat losses are the source of the largest emissions by far.
Combining refrigeration and shorter supply chains
Sub-Saharan Africa and south and south-east Asia would stand to see the biggest reductions in food loss and related greenhouse gas emissions with better refrigeration and localised supply chains, the study finds.
For example, improved refrigeration could save more than 100m tonnes of fruit and vegetables each year in south and south-east Asia. It could also reduce overall food loss in the region by 45% and more than halve the associated emissions. In sub-Saharan Africa, it could cut these emissions by two-thirds.
Globally, better refrigeration of meat could cut emissions linked to meat loss by more than 40%.
Meat accounts for more than half (2.7 gigatonnes) of food loss and waste greenhouse gas emissions – despite making up less than 10% of global food loss and waste, the study says.
The benefits of refrigeration in reducing food loss are more modest in global north countries with existing temperature-controlled food supply chains.
The study finds that, on a global level, making food supply chains more local can have a bigger impact on saving food than improving refrigeration.
Localised supply chains could reduce emissions from rotting meat in industrialised countries by more than 300m tonnes of CO2e emissions each year, the study adds.
Combining the two solutions – shorter supply chains and better refrigeration – can help to reduce food losses and slash the energy burden and emissions from refrigeration.
Other factors
Vázquez-Rowe says that the study findings are “plausible” and that they “reflect a structural problem of food systems”. But, he adds:
“There is a lack of uncertainty and sensitivity analyses, which does not allow for a full analysis of the certainty of the results they provide.”
The authors acknowledge other limitations in the study, such as not considering the emissions from refrigerators in their calculations.
Previous research indicates that refrigeration may even increase food emissions through higher energy use and the dietary shifts that refrigeration allows.
The study also does not consider various social, cultural, political, nutritional and economic factors that influence food systems.
Areas with unreliable energy systems may not want to – or may not be able to – rely more heavily on refrigeration technologies. Friedman-Heiman explains:
“If a region doesn’t have stable energy infrastructure, then the idea of basing a food system off of refrigeration is actually maybe less sustainable in terms of food loss and waste than what they currently have.”
He is hopeful researchers, policymakers and others in the food industry can use the model and further the research on a wider level. He tells Carbon Brief:
“I would love for this model to incorporate regional energy grids and what that impact might be in terms of changing the emissions equation…[alongside] pitting the food savings against the refrigeration [emissions].”
The study also acknowledges that shorter supply chains are not always feasible, depending on geographical location and the seasonality of different foods.
The post Better refrigeration could avoid almost 2bn tonnes of CO2 per year from food loss appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Better refrigeration could avoid almost 2bn tonnes of CO2 per year from food loss
Climate Change
DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Bonn talks close
‘SIDE-STEPPING AND STALLING’: UN climate talks in Bonn have ended in “gridlock”, according to Climate Home News. The outlet reported on the failure to balance developing countries’ need for climate-adaptation finance with “richer nations’ desire to move forward” on emissions cuts. It added that both topics were subject to “rule 16”, meaning no agreement could be reached and work will be pushed to the COP31 summit in Turkey. Inside Climate News quoted UN climate executive secretary Simon Stiell, who said the talks had seen “side-stepping and stalling”.
JUST TRANSITION: One “glimmer of hope” came from negotiations on achieving a “just transition”, reported Euronews. The news outlet said negotiators “made headway on operationalising the Belém-Antalya mechanism”, intended to support people in the shift to a low-carbon economy. However, Politico concluded that much of the focus in Bonn had “shift[ed] to efforts outside diplomatic talks – raising questions about the future of global climate negotiations”.
‘ATTACKING SCIENCE’: Agence France-Presse reported on the EU, Switzerland and “dozens of developing nations” warning of “attacks on science” by a “small group of fossil-fuels interests” in Bonn. Table Briefings explained that “the 1.5C target is increasingly being challenged” and the role of the UN climate-science panel – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – in an upcoming assessment of global climate progress “remains controversial”. See Carbon Brief’s full write-up of the talks for more detail.
US-Iran deal
PRICE DROP: The US and Iran announced that they have reached an interim agreement to halt the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz, reported Bloomberg. Oil prices have fallen, as the “long-awaited deal” began the process of “eas[ing]” the global energy crisis triggered by the conflict, according to the New York Times. The Associated Press noted that high fuel prices will “likely outlast the Iran war”.
‘OIL GLUT’: The Financial Times reported that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast a “glut of oil” emerging next year, if the peace deal holds. The IEA said this would allow countries to build new strategic reserves, as they “review their energy strategies and policies in response to the crisis”, according to Reuters.
‘NEW ERA’: Agence France-Presse reported that oil and gas companies have “few illusions about a return to normal for the Gulf energy industry after more than three months of blockage”. One analyst told the newswire that the war “showed the oil and gas industry that Hormuz risk is no longer just a geopolitical headline”.
Around the world
- OCEAN MONITOR: The Trump administration is “abandoning its plan” to dismantle a $368m ocean monitoring system key for tracking climate change after a “bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill”, reported the New York Times.
- CORAL HAVEN: The New York Times covered preliminary research, presented at the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya, suggesting there could be three times as many “coral refugia” – where corals are relatively safe from climate change – than previously thought.
- BAD CREDIT: Down to Earth reported that the first carbon credits issued under the Paris Agreement’s new Article 6.4 mechanism are “facing scrutiny over alleged links to institutions controlled by Myanmar’s military junta”.
- OIL BACKTRACK: Reuters reported that oil-and-gas company Equinor has dropped a renewable-energy target and scaled back clean investments, while another Reuters story noted that Shell is selling off its offshore wind assets.
1.1 billion
The number of children facing “at least three overlapping climate hazards”, according to a new Unicef report covered by Agence France-Presse.
Latest climate research
- Including the “permafrost carbon-climate feedback” in climate models increases the chance of exceeding “tipping elements” – such as the Greenland ice sheets, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or Amazon rainforest – by up to 50% | Environmental Research Letters
- The intensity of influenza outbreaks could decline in temperate regions, but increase in tropical areas over the next century, as the climate warms | PNAS Nexus
- European snow cover has declined by 20% for December and January since the start of the industrial era, revealing an “unprecedented ongoing shrinkage of European winters” | Communications Earth & Environment
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
The more than 2m battery electric vehicles (BEVs), 1m “plug-in” hybrids (PHEVs) and 100,000 electric vans on UK roads are already saving drivers a total of around £3bn a year, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. This amounts to savings of more than £1,100 a year in fuel costs for each BEV driver in the UK. The analysis comes amid reports in UK media this week that the government is considering “watering down” its EV sales targets.
Spotlight
Oceans rising at UN climate talks
The state of the world’s oceans is inextricably linked to the changing climate – and many delegates at UN climate talks want to see more focus on this issue, reports Carbon Brief.
Oceans are often described as the world’s “greatest ally” against climate change – absorbing 30% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and most of the heat generated by those emissions.
They are also the site of important climate solutions, such as huge offshore windfarms and the shipping industry’s transition to cleaner fuels.
At the same time, the oceans themselves present a growing danger to coastal communities and sea life due to sea level rise, marine heatwaves and ocean acidification.
These diverse issues have led to growing calls within the UN climate process for more focus on oceans. During climate negotiations this week in Bonn – known as SB64 – nations and civil society had a chance to air these views during an “ocean and climate change dialogue”.
‘Elevate action’
Oceans first entered UN climate outcomes in 2019, when the final COP25 negotiated text requested a new “dialogue” on “the ocean and climate change to consider how to strengthen mitigation and adaptation action”.
The following years saw this dialogue established as an annual event. However, the political weight of these discussions has been limited.
COP31 is being co-led by Turkey and Australia, but with Pacific islands playing a supporting role. These small islands sometimes self-identify as “large ocean states”, stressing the ocean’s centrality in their societies.
In Bonn, figures from across the presidency threw their weight behind this issue. Chris Bowen, an Australian minister and incoming COP31 “president of negotiations”, told attendees:
“Australia, Turkey and the Pacific see an important opportunity to elevate ocean-based climate action.”
Strategies and finance
The two-day dialogue in Bonn involved a series of panels, statements and breakout groups.
One of the main topics was how oceans are integrated into national climate plans under the Paris Agreement, known as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs).
Three-quarters of the latest round of NDCs mention oceans, with conservation of “blue carbon” ecosystems the most frequently described action. (Landscapes such as mangroves can both absorb CO2 and protect coastal areas.)
Delegates also discussed alignment with the UN biodiversity process, as well as ocean finance, which currently makes up less than 1% of all climate finance.
(As discussions were taking place in Bonn, country officials also gathered in Mombasa, Kenya for the 11th Our Ocean Conference. Carbon Brief’s associate editor Giuliana Viglione attended the conference and will publish a full summary shortly.)
Developing countries were clear that many of the ocean-related actions in their NDCs would depend on receiving more financial support.
‘Political momentum’
With the backing of the COP31 presidency, delegates were hopeful about where this year’s dialogue could lead.
Charles Hamilton, an advisor for the Bahamas who spoke for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the dialogue, told Carbon Brief that island representatives “are not traveling thousands of miles to just talk and pat ourselves on the back”. He added:
“A dialogue that just remains a dialogue is just more talk – no action.”
Given that, he said “discussions in the dialogue must move into COP decisions and the decisions must be actioned”, noting the importance of finance.
Marina Corrêa, oceans lead at WWF-Brazil, pointed to an upcoming UN climate change Standing Committee on Finance forum as a space to ramp up pressure on ocean finance.
More broadly, she wanted to see the presidencies translate their support into a “leader-level ocean initiative” that could “mainstream” oceans across negotiations.
“We have a really interesting opportunity, in terms of political momentum,” Corrêa told Carbon Brief.
Watch, read, listen
‘HOTTER THAN HELL’: An episode of the BBC’s Rare Earth podcast titled “hotter than hell” considered the issue of extreme heat, with input from experts and “people facing up to the hottest temperatures on the planet”.
NOT BROKEN?: John Drake, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia, wrote an essay for Aeon – also re-published as a Guardian “long read” – questioning the framing of ecosystems and climate systems “breaking down”.
ON COURSE: On his Volts podcast, US climate journalist David Roberts interviewed UK climate minister Katie White, quizzing her about whether the UK will “stay the course with its climate plans”.
Coming up
- 20-28 June: London climate action week
- 21 June: Colombia presidential runoff
- 24 June: UK Climate Change Committee progress in reducing emissions 2026 report to parliament
Pick of the jobs
- Mongabay, managing editor – Africa | Salary: Unknown. Location: Global
- Contexte, environment reporter – Brussels | Salary: €45,000-€60,000. Location: Brussels
- Climate 200, communications director | Salary: Unknown. Location: Australia
- Energy Tracker Asia, energy transition correspondent | Salary: $3,000-$4,000 per month. Location: South-east Asia (remote)
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations appeared first on Carbon Brief.
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