The Cold Chain Opportunity: Climate Innovation Hidden in Plain Sight

by Hannah Sieber, CEO and Co-founder at Artyc

When a box of vaccines touches down at a rural clinic or when fresh blueberries arrive at a doorstep in July, it feels seamless. Behind these everyday miracles, however, lies one of the most complex—and fragile—systems in the modern world: the cold chain.

For years, the cold chain was treated as mere logistics. Essential, yes, but out of sight and out of mind. Today, it's something much bigger: a frontline infrastructure for public health, food security, and climate resilience. Now, it's increasingly strained under pressures it was never built to withstand.

In a world hurtling toward higher temperatures and tighter supply chains, the cold chain can no longer be invisible. It's time to see it—and fix it—for what it really is: critical infrastructure.

A System Under Strain

The cold chain’s purpose is simple: move temperature-sensitive goods—medicines, food, biologics—without letting them spoil. But the system it relies on is anything but simple.

Global cold chain logistics today represents a market valued between $237 billion and $368 billion, with projections crossing $1.2 trillion by 2033. Growth is fueled by two massive trends: a healthcare revolution, as biologics, gene therapies, and mRNA treatments become more common; and a consumer shift toward fresh and frozen food deliveries post-pandemic.

Yet despite its scale, the cold chain is showing signs of serious fragility. Much of the infrastructure in North America and Europe dates back to the 1980s—or earlier. Most warehouses were never designed for today's tighter temperature tolerances, energy efficiency standards, or volume of shipments.

Meanwhile, in emerging markets, basic cold storage often doesn’t exist at all. In parts of Africa, more than 40% of perishable food is lost before it ever reaches consumers—not because of agricultural failure, but because cold rooms, refrigerated trucks, and last-mile cooling simply aren’t available.

If that wasn’t enough, extreme weather events are now testing these systems past their limits. In 2024 alone, wildfires, heatwaves, and floods devastated cooling facilities from California to Bangladesh. Power outages—whether from aging grids or climate shocks—have turned isolated breakdowns into cascading supply chain failures.

When the cold chain falters, the damage is swift and largely invisible: spoiled medicine, wasted food, lost revenue, and eroded trust.

And as temperatures rise, the cold chain’s fragility only compounds.

A Paradox at the Heart of Cooling

Perhaps the greatest irony is this: cooling exists to prevent waste and protect health—yet it’s also a significant contributor to climate change.

Cooling systems consume roughly 5% of the world’s total energy supply and generate 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than the aviation sector. Much of this impact stems from the heavy use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, which have thousands of times the warming potential of CO₂.

As the planet warms, cooling systems must work harder, creating a vicious cycle: the hotter it gets, the more energy we spend trying to stay cool, and the more emissions we generate, accelerating warming even further.

Thus, the cold chain finds itself trapped in a feedback loop—an infrastructure problem that, if left unchecked, could sabotage both food security and decarbonization goals simultaneously.

Signs of a Chain Reaction

Despite these challenges, 2024 wasn’t just a year of breakdown. It was a year of breakthroughs.

Across the globe, innovators are reimagining how cold chains are built, powered, and monitored.

• In Nigeria, ColdHubs operates solar-powered, walk-in cold rooms that allow farmers to rent space daily. These hubs prevented nearly 14 tons of food loss last year—without needing to plug into unreliable grids.

• In Rwanda, Ox Delivers uses rugged electric trucks on a pay-per-kilo model to support over 10,000 local deliveries, making cold transport accessible to remote farmers who previously had no way to get perishable goods to market.

• In Ghana, Zipline’s drone delivery network completed over 350,000 medical cold chain deliveries, cutting critical delivery times from hours to under 45 minutes.

At the same time, large incumbents are starting to retrofit and modernize aging infrastructure. UPS is investing billions into cold chain expansion across Europe and North America, aiming to double its healthcare logistics business by 2026. Retailers like ALDI US and Morrisons are leading transitions to natural refrigerants like CO₂ and propane, reducing cooling emissions while improving performance.

Meanwhile, smart cold chain platforms are closing the gap between monitoring and action. Maersk now outfits every one of its 380,000 refrigerated containers with real-time IoT sensors, offering continuous visibility across its global fleet. In the next three years, experts project cold chain tracking devices will nearly double to 4.4 million active units globally.

For the first time, cooling is not just about containment—it's becoming a data-driven, climate-aligned system.

Building a Resilient, Climate-Ready Cold Chain

The cold chain was built for a stable world. That world no longer exists.

Now, a new version must emerge: decentralized where needed, digitized end-to-end, resilient against climate shocks, and aligned with carbon goals rather than at odds with them. The innovations are already here. Solar cooling. Smart tracking. Modular hubs. Natural refrigerants. Drone logistics.

The question is: can we scale them fast enough to meet rising demand without amplifying emissions and inequality?

If we succeed, the cold chain won’t just preserve goods. It will safeguard futures—ensuring that vaccines stay potent, food stays fresh, and communities stay resilient, even as the planet heats up.

This is the quiet climate revolution hiding inside your next grocery delivery or doctor’s appointment. The cold chain has always worked behind the scenes. It’s time we brought it to the front.

Want more hot facts about the cold chain? Check out Artyc’s Chain Reaction report here.

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