International funder Global Environment Facility (GEF) has initiated a $27.5 million project in the Philippines that aims to establish a cold chain system that could both support food security and pharmaceutical safety, particularly in relation to COVID-19 vaccination.
Financiers to the project called “Global Partnership for Improving the Food Cold Chain in the Philippines” (GPI-FCCP) include Asian Development Bank ($10 million loan); DENR ($190,000); UNIDO ($199,500); and $100,000 from Germany’s international cooperation agency GIZ (Gesselschaft fur Internationanale Zusammenarbeit).
The vaccine component of the project will be financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
BMZ supports private sector initiatives that “mitigate the economic as well as the health-related impact of the corona pandemic” of countries like the Philippines
BMZ disclosed that projects related to the Covid 19 vaccine cold chain requirements will receive up to €2,000,000 ($2,430,710) of funding. This has a government cost counterpart of 50 percent.
The project is also looking for private sector investors in a “low carbon” cold chain system that could serve as food and COVID-19 vaccination storage facility, according to a statement.
The GPI-FCCP primarily involves establishment of policies advocating use of low carbon and energy-efficient refrigeration facilities for the food system.
Stringent policies are important in providing a stable investment environment for investors in “green” cooling technologies.
Cold chain covers every produce that needs cooling from the “field to the fork (transport, storage, transformation, packaging).
Policies will involve national standards for flammable refrigerants and revision of energy efficiency standards.
Government agencies involved in the GPI-FCCP are the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization).
A total of 200 key stakeholders are targeted to be trained on energy-efficiency and climate-friendly cold chain technologies.
There is also a need to train 50 local engineers, system suppliers and end-users on the use of global innovative cold chain technology.