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There are 800 million people that go hungry every year and we waste enough food to support all those people .
the emissions of our units and play our part in reducing not only our carbon footprint but that of our customers too ,” he confirms .
In terms of issues affecting the sector , Dwayne elaborates on the ways in which Thermo King is navigating the challenges . “ Coming out of the pandemic , the first thing we realized was the importance of supply chain resiliency . As such , we are dual sourcing and partnering with suppliers to ensure resiliency . This means that if there is an issue , we can recover quickly , and keep our customers up and running . Equally , from technicians to truck drivers , labor is an important consideration . We train in-house to ensure that we have the right skilled labor in place to keep our units up and running . In our industry , truckers make money by driving ; they don ’ t make money if they ’ re sitting waiting for their vehicle to be worked on . We want to do everything we can to make our customers ’ and employees ’ lives easier . We also work with our teams and different organizations to showcase this industry as a place in which to aspire to work , with a view to bolstering the image of the sector and enhancing the numbers going into it ,” he asserts .
Dwayne highlights how Thermo King also plays its part in supporting food security and the reduction of food waste . “ There was a report in 2022 by the UN ,” he elaborates . “ It estimated that around 14 percent of the food produced for human consumption is lost , while as much as 17 percent is wasted . That ’ s enough to feed around one billion people in the world . There are 800 million people that go hungry every year and we waste enough food to support all those people . That ’ s why it ’ s so important to me that we understand how we can play a part in stopping that . When we talk about our industry and what we do , we play an important role in society . We distributed vaccines across Europe at the height of the pandemic . From preventing food loss to helping preserve lives , refrigerated transport is essential .
Passion for people and the planet
“ It ’ s always intriguing to be part of an initiative that makes life better for all . Indeed , that feeds into our local communities and the way we work to create an inclusive environment . When people look at our organization , we want them to be able to picture themselves being a part of it . We are working on that as much as we ’ re making strides in our commitment to sustainability . In conjunction with Trane Technologies , our parent company , we want to reduce greenhouse gases by one gigaton by 2030 , which is one billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions . This is our aim . We talk about it every day . As an organization , we want to make the planet a better place than it is today , and we ’ re heavily invested in this . The gigaton challenge is a very big part of our purpose , as is being an inclusive and diverse organization . I like talking about our story , about our passion , and our goals ,” Dwayne concludes , “ because to me , that ’ s what differentiates us from everyone else . We live it , we breathe it , and we want to make sure that we ’ re doing our part .” ■
Dwayne Cowan scw-mag . com 11