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Ice-cream and cold drinks – cooled naturally

Refrigerants, Naturally! presents ways of transitioning to natural refrigerants

November 2012, Brussels

Refrigerants, Naturally! member companies The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Unilever and Red Bull are convinced: Natural refrigerants are the best solution for their point-of-sale cooling equipment. The latest ice-cream freezers, bottle coolers and vending machines with CO2 and hydrocarbons as cooling agents meet all these companies require from their equipment.

At the ATMOsphere Europe conference in Brussels, Refrigerants, Naturally! hosted its own panel. Member companies presented their solutions of how to combine economical feasibility with environmental sustainability. They also showcased their latest point-of-sale cooling equipment using natural refrigerants. By replacing HFCs with natural refrigerants, these companies have already phased out more than 1 million tonnes of CO2 emissions equivalent based on the avoided HFC refrigerant emissions. On top of this, the new equipment also saves indirect emissions because of increased energy-efficiency.

The corporate action to drive forward the phase-out of harmful fluorinated gases by voluntarily transitioning to natural refrigerants is at the heart of the sustainability journey, said former UK Secretary for the Environment John Gummer, Lord Deben, who facilitated the session. “Climate change is happening,” said Gummer, who leads the independent committee on climate change in the UK, “and no one will be acceptable who puts their short term individual interest against that of their nation or the world”.

Facts & Figures

Globally, The Coca-Cola Company has placed 800.000 units using natural refrigerants and is committed to buy only HFC-free equipment from 2015. Unilever has placed over 1 million units – reaching into every country that they operate in. With 313.000 units of its efficient ECO cooler, more than one third of Red Bull units worldwide use natural refrigerants. PepsiCo has now reached over 200.000 HFC-free units.

 

Please browse the following pages to learn more about the initiative.