August 11, 2021 - The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit working in partnership with the grocery industry to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants, has announced that registration is now open for their Sustainable Refrigeration Summit. Hosted virtually from September 27 to October 8, this free event will bring together commercial refrigeration, energy, environmental, and policy stakeholders to address challenges and accelerate solutions to achieve a zero-emissions future for grocery refrigeration.
“Reducing refrigerant emissions is one of the most powerful and cost-effective strategies to achieve zero emissions,” said Danielle Wright, NASRC executive director. “The Sustainable Refrigeration Summit is designed to bring together the technical know-how from the industry with the policies and infrastructure to support a successful transition away from harmful greenhouse gas refrigerants.”
The summit will feature daily live sessions that outline challenges and opportunities to achieve net zero emissions, including the impact of regulations, retailer strategies to reduce emissions, technology options, opportunities for funding and alignment with energy performance goals. In addition, presentations that feature various natural refrigerant technologies will be available on-demand throughout the event. Participants will gain knowledge on the latest regulatory and industry trends and hear directly from the grocers, industry experts, and policymakers that are shaping the future of sustainable refrigeration.
Commonly used hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants are extremely potent greenhouse gases (GHG) growing faster than any other greenhouse gas on the planet. Recently enacted federal regulations, under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, will drive the phase-down of HFC production and consumption by 85 percent over the next 15 years. Additionally, there has been a growing trend of commitments and targets to reduce GHG emissions at the corporate, local community, and state level. This combination of pressures has triggered an industry-wide shift towards climate-friendly refrigeration technologies in the grocery sector.
Natural refrigerants, including ammonia, CO2, and hydrocarbons, have zero or near-zero GWP and are future-proof from a regulatory standpoint, but face a unique set of market barriers that have prevented their scaled adoption. Not only do these technologies come at an upfront cost premium compared to traditional HFC technologies, but natural refrigerants are also not a “drop-in” solution and require costly and logistically challenging full system replacement in the over 38,000 existing grocery stores in the US. NASRC’s Sustainable Refrigeration Summit will address these challenges and others to accelerate the solutions needed to achieve zero emissions in grocery stores.
“We can’t reach zero emissions in refrigeration without natural refrigerants,” said Wright. “To overcome the challenges and make meaningful progress we need all hands on deck, and that’s exactly what this summit is designed to do.”
Summit participation is free thanks to the generous premium sponsorship of BITZER US, Climate Pros, CoolSys, Hillphoenix, Danfoss, and Hussmann and other summit sponsors. Learn more and register here.
About North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council
The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) is a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit working in partnership with the grocery refrigeration industry to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by traditional refrigerants. The organization works with stakeholders from across the grocery refrigeration industry, including over 38,000 food retail locations, to eliminate the barriers preventing the adoption of natural refrigerants. For more information, visit www.nasrc.org.
