Event Recording:

Cooling is necessary for the quality of life of billions of people living across countries.

Whether in hot climates or in regions that are traditionally unprepared for ever more frequent heatwaves due to climate change. The energy needed for air conditioning is likely to triple by 2050, with an equivalent of ten new air conditioning units projected to be sold every second for the next 30 years (as per the IEA). This huge demand has the potential to drive up greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbate the very problem it is designed to alleviate. The Future of Cooling Programme’s vision is to understand and shape worldwide cooling solutions which place planetary stewardship and protecting people’s needs at their heart. These will inform and help prepare countries for extreme heat events by prioritising passive and less energy-intensive technology, while shifting the trajectory of cooling growth towards sustainability.

As we move towards one of the most important rounds of the UNFCCC Climate Negotiations, the Future of Cooling programme is hosting a series of online seminars leading up to COP26. The motivation behind the series is the need for high-profile and broad-reaching conversations on tackling cooling as a system -- one that is integral to addressing the climate crisis. The webinars will engage in conversation with academics, industry and policy makers, and cover each of the themes that link to the programme’s framework on sustainable cooling: social interactions and cooling cultures; cooling technology and innovation; models for sustainable cold chains; circular cooling economy; infrastructure design for sustainable cooling; and finally, cooling for climate action.

This talk is organised by the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Cooling

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu
CEO, ColdHubs

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is a farmer, innovator, leading social entrepreneur, and Founder/CEO of the Smallholders Foundation Ltd./Gte. He is CEO of ColdHubs, who produce a “plug and play” modular, solar-powered walk-in cold room, for 24/7 off-grid storage and preservation of perishable foods. He created Smallholder Farmer Rural Radio (2 million Nigerian listeners), The Agriprenuership Academy, The Smallholders Seed Store, Smallholders Microcredit, and grain preservation bags, GrainStore.

He is highly honoured with 23 awards including the Ashoka Fellow 2008, Rolex Awards 2010, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative in Business 2012, Nigeria’s Young Person of the Year 2011, Niigata International Food Prize Laureate, 2012 and 2013 Laureate of the Yara Prize for Green Revolution, and most recently the 2020 Waislitz Global Citizen Award.

Professor Toby Peters
Professor in Cold Economy, University of Birmingham

Toby Peters is Professor in Cold Economy at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is an award-winning technology developer and industrial academic with more than 14 years of experience in energy storage /energy systems (incl. policy and regulatory environments); clean cooling/the “cold economy” and the environmental, societal and economic impacts of cooling; novel technologies for refrigeration and cooling and their development and system integration. He was the joint-academic lead for the Doing Cold Smarter Policy Commission (October 2015).

Building on work pioneering the development of the cold economy and clean cold technologies, he has now broadened this out to accelerate transformational innovation to market and improve innovation performance to help meet the world’s big social and economic challenges within the limits of our natural resources and time deadlines.

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