In regions most vulnerable to climate change, insufficient cold chain availability has long been both a symptom and a driver of inequity. Post-harvest food loss can reach greater than 50% in many parts of the Global South, not due to poor farming practices, but due to a simple lack of cold chain management systems. These losses ripple through communities, wasting water, labor, and land; driving down farmer income; and emitting methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than CO₂. Against this backdrop, a new solution quietly transforms the post-harvest story for smallholder farmers: EquiCoolTM.
Developed by the Equitable Climate Innovations Institute (ECIi), EquiCoolTM is a decentralized, dry ice–based cold chain system designed to serve the needs of farmers with limited access to power, infrastructure, or capital. It’s already changing lives in Kenya and gaining attention for how elegantly it combines climate tech with social equity.
“Before, I couldn’t sell all my chucken. Towards the end of the market day some started smelling. With dry ice, I sold everything”
What sets EquiCoolTM apart is both its technical ingenuity and its human-centered design. Operating at -78.5°C, dry ice delivers rapid, ultra-low temperature cooling that surpasses traditional methods. Unlike water-based ice, it sublimates directly into gas, leaving no soggy residue, no added weight, and no contamination, making it ideal for sensitive perishables like leafy greens, dairy, and poultry.
Yet it’s the simplicity and accessibility that resonate most with smallholder farmers. EquiCoolTM requires no electricity, diesel, or fixed infrastructure. It’s modular, portable, and pay-as-you-go, enabling daily use even in remote farming areas. Farmers don’t need new equipment or extensive training to use it; they integrate dry ice into their existing harvest and transport routines.
Particularly valuable for transport and market display, where most spoilage occurs. EquiCoolTM keeps produce fresh from the field to the point of sale. Today, the system runs on locally sourced CO₂, but the long-term vision includes Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, turning atmospheric CO₂ into a cooling resource. It’s not just a cold chain; it’s a new kind of carbon cycle, one that transforms a climate threat into a tool for food security and equity.
Field trials in Kenya offer early signs of how transformational EquiCoolTM can be. Leafy greens stayed crisp and marketable through the entire sales day. Poultry vendors, who had previously lost inventory by late afternoon, reported 0% spoilage and full sell-through. Milk was cooled below 5°C in under 25 minutes, significantly outperforming water-based ice and mechanical cooling.
Farmers used the system for overnight storage, morning transport, and full-day market display, integrating it seamlessly into their routines. Many praised its flexibility and ease of use, with no new equipment required, and no steep learning curve. These early adopters didn’t just tolerate the new system; they embraced it, even sharing it with neighboring vendors.
Why It Matters Now
Cold chain expansion globally has focused primarily on industrial-scale producers and export markets. However, millions of smallholders, the people who feed one-third of the global population, remain excluded from those systems. That exclusion comes at a high cost: food waste, lost income, and emissions that intensify the climate challenges they’re already enduring. EquiCoolTM flips the model. It brings advanced, climate-resilient cooling directly to the farmers who need it most, without waiting for the grid, diesel, or large infrastructure to arrive.
EquiCoolTM is led by the Equitable Climate Innovations Institute (ECIi), a nonprofit committed to equitable climate innovation and carbon solutions. However, the power of the initiative lies in its coalition of partners who bring deep expertise and on-the-ground credibility to the work. Partnering to bring both grassroots reach and sector-specific insight, the initiative benefits from the combined strengths of two Kenyan associations. The Women Farmers Association of Kenya (WoFaAK) offers deep relationships with women-led farming communities and understands how post-harvest losses affect household resilience and food security. Meanwhile, the Kenya Livestock Producers Association (KLPA) contributes critical expertise in dairy and meat value chains, sectors especially vulnerable to food spoilage due to the lack of cooling. Together, they ensure EquiCoolTM is shaped by the real-world needs of smallholder producers, guiding where the solution can have the greatest impact across crops and livestock, and ensuring it reaches farmers and vendors often excluded from large-scale cold chain systems.
Carbacid CO₂, Kenya’s leading supplier of food-grade carbon dioxide, enables the project to get off the ground quickly by providing local, reliable access to dry ice production, without needing to wait for expensive infrastructure or imports. Looking to the future, California-based Aircapture brings cutting-edge technical expertise and field experience in Direct Air Capture (DAC). This technology could one day allow EquiCoolTM to source its CO₂ directly from the atmosphere, making the solution essentially emissions-free. Together, these partners make EquiCool more than a product. They make it a shared platform for climate resilience, food justice, and smallholder empowerment.
“CO2: From a warming problem to cooling power.” ECIi
Currently, EquiCoolTM uses CO₂ that is locally and naturally sourced and repurposed, a significant environmental improvement over diesel-powered cooling. But the Institute’s long-term goal is to integrate Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, allowing atmospheric CO₂ to be captured and turned directly into dry ice. This would make EquiCoolTM carbon-neutral and possibly even carbon-negative, providing a real-time climate service in the regions hardest hit by climate instability.
It’s a model that bridges novel technology and food sovereignty, inclusive, and globally relevant.
Turn loss into possibility.
Currently, ECIi is actively seeking on-the-ground partners in logistics, food systems, climate finance, and development to bring EquiCoolTM to the regions that need it most. The Institute is encouraging to build together.
Note: EquiCool™ is a systems innovation initiated by the Equitable Climate Innovations Institute (ECIi). While we welcome adaptation, please contact us to collaborate or cite respectfully.
