ShareICCC 2026 Istanbul: Sustaining Cold Chain and Food for the Future
The 9th IIR Conference on Sustainability and the Cold Chain (ICCC 2026) has taken place on 13th and 14th of April 2026 in Istanbul, bringing together more than 130 participants, including leading experts, researchers, and industry professionals from around the world to discuss one of the most pressing challenges of our time: building a sustainable global cold chain.
Hosted at the prestigious Lazzoni Hotel Istanbul, ICCC 2026 is organised under the theme "Sustaining Cold Chain and Food for the Future". A rallying call for action across the entire cold chain ecosystem. Since 2010, ICCC has united minds from around the world to tackle key sustainability challenges, from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to reducing food loss and waste. This year's Istanbul edition highlights cutting-edge research and brings together industries with a shared goal: a truly sustainable cold chain.
A Rich Programme Discussing Today's Biggest Challenges
Over three days, the conference brings together a high-level scientific committee and keynote speakers to explore three core areas:
- Cold Chain Innovations: advancements in equipment design, transportation, and logistics to optimise efficiency and ensure food quality and safety across global systems
- Sustainability Solutions: the integration of renewable energy and low-GWP refrigerants, as well as innovative technologies driving carbon neutrality in refrigeration
- Bridging Global Challenges: addressing the unique needs of emerging markets while fostering international collaboration to promote sustainable practices in the cold chain
The conference also welcomes contributions across a broad range of topics, including cold chain practices, process and equipment design, storage and logistics, modelling and digitalisation, food quality and safety, innovations in retail refrigeration, circular economy and sustainable design, life cycle analysis, and energy efficiency in refrigeration systems.
All presentations are oral, with papers peer-reviewed and published in the IIR Fridoc database, ensuring the knowledge shared in Istanbul reaches the wider global community.
A Strong Opening
The conference opened with a ceremony featuring remarks from Zeki Poyraz, Vice Chairman of the Board of ISIB, and Yosr Allouche, Director General of the IIR. Three keynote speakers set the scientific tone for the days ahead: Prof Judith Evans (London South Bank University), Prof Armin Hafner (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), and Prof Soojin Jun (University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa).
The programme spans two full days of parallel sessions covering energy efficiency and advanced refrigeration systems, low-GWP refrigerants and carbon-neutral technologies, food quality and safety, cold chain development in emerging economies, sustainability, and modelling and digitalisation, as well as dedicated Commission meetings and a special session on implementing cold chains in developing countries.
IIR Panel: Sustaining the Cold Chain - From Türkiye to the World
One of the most anticipated sessions of the IIR International Conference on Sustainability and Cold Chain was the panel Sustaining the Cold Chain - From Türkiye to the World, which brought together five leading experts from across industry, science, public policy, and international development for a wide-ranging and at times provocative debate. Moderated by Souhir Al-Hammami, Scientific and Technical Information Director at the International Institute of Refrigeration, the session tackled some of the most pressing questions facing the refrigeration and cold chain sector today: How can the industry decarbonise at scale without compromising access in developing economies? What does the science tell us about where food loss truly happens along the chain, and are we measuring it correctly? And can carbon finance ever become a credible tool for funding cold chain upgrades in emerging markets? The discussion drew on the complementary perspectives of Biagio Lamanna, Group Head of the HVAC/R Knowledge Center at Carel Industries; Prof. Judith Evans, President of IIR Section C on Biology and Food Technology; Cemal Yilmaz, Board Member of ISIB; Meral Mungan Arda, CCE Portfolio Manager at UNDP Türkiye; and Volkan Polat, Department Head of Monitoring of Greenhouse Gas Emissions at Türkiye's Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, a line-up that ensured no single dimension of the cold chain sustainability agenda went unexamined.
The panel generated rich and at times contentious exchanges that reflected the complexity of the challenge at hand. A central thread running through the discussion was the paradox at the heart of the cold chain: a system that is indispensable for reducing food waste and protecting public health, yet one that remains a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions through both energy consumption and refrigerant leakage. Panelists debated the realism of current policy timelines, with particular attention to the implications of the Kigali Amendment for a country like Türkiye, strategically positioned between European regulatory frameworks and rapidly growing markets in Asia and the Middle East. The role of digitalisation and IoT in transforming cold chain monitoring was discussed with cautious optimism. Perhaps most strikingly, the panel converged on a shared conviction: that the cold chain must be reframed, not merely as infrastructure, but as a frontline climate solution deserving far greater visibility in international policy and finance agendas. The session closed with each panelist offering a forward-looking commitment for 2035, leaving the audience with both the urgency of the challenge and a sense of the concrete pathways available to address it.
As the discussions in Türkiye drew to a close, the IIR was proud to share a milestone announcement that underscored the momentum this conference series continues to build: the next IIR International Conference on Sustainability and Cold Chain 2028 will be hosted in France, organised jointly by the Association Française du Froid (AFF) and the Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (INRAE). France's long-standing tradition of excellence in food science, agri-food research, and refrigeration engineering makes it a natural home for this gathering, and the combined expertise of AFF and INRAE guarantees a programme of the highest scientific and professional calibre.
ICCC 2028 will carry forward the ambitions and unfinished conversations of this year's edition, on refrigerant transitions, climate finance, food loss, and the future of a sustainable cold chain, and open them up to an even broader international community.
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