What is the IPCC Report?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body responsible for assessing and reporting on science related to climate change. IPCC reports are neutral, science-based, and meant to inform international activities to mitigate climate change. The IPCC recently released their sixth assessment report (AR6) outlining the latest understanding of climate change since the fifth assessment report was published in 2014.
What are the takeaways of the latest report?
The AR6 report quickly caught the attention of media and climate scientists due to its bold conclusions that sounded the alarm more than those of any preceding reports, including a firm conclusion that “it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.”
But perhaps the most significant finding is that because of the enormous quantity of greenhouse gases humans have already emitted into the atmosphere, warming will continue for at least the next thirty years even if emissions were sharply cut today. What this means is that some of the impacts we are feeling now (e.g., heat waves, droughts, natural disasters) will continue to worsen until at least the middle of the century.
Is there any good news?
Though AR6 issued a dire warning, it also highlighted an opportunity to turn things around. According to the report, aggressive and immediate emission reductions could minimize warming in the second half of the century, and achieving net zero emissions could even reduce warming below 1.5°C after 2050. But avoiding the critical tipping point of 2°C is going to take swift, comprehensive action act a global scale.
What does this have to do with supermarket refrigeration?
Hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants (HFCs) belong to a class of greenhouse gases called short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), which have significantly shorter lifetimes in the atmosphere than other greenhouse gases. In other words, they have a disproportionate impact on the climate in the near-term, making their mitigation especially urgent. Of the SLCPs evaluated in AR6, only HFCs were found to have increased concentrations at a global level over the last decade.
According to the report, swift implementation and enforcement of the Kigali Amendment to phase down HFCs could reduce average warming by up to 0.4°C in 2100. Because approximately 28% of all HFC emissions in the US come from commercial refrigeration, we can expect that supermarkets will be expected to play a major role in the phasedown of HFCs.
But reducing emissions from HFCs is not the only step to a climate-friendly future for supermarket refrigeration. AR6 also highlighted the need for improved efficiency of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment to further reduce indirect greenhouse gas emissions from energy use.
What is NASRC doing about it?
Natural refrigerants – including carbon dioxide, ammonia, and hydrocarbons – have zero or near-zero global warming potential (GWP) and are the most climate-friendly refrigerant alternatives available on the market today. But due to a unique set of market barriers, such as high upfront costs, lack of technology availability, and service readiness, they have not been widely adopted in the US market. Without real solutions to these challenges, the industry will have no choice but to transition to refrigerants with a larger climate impact and the policy measures referenced in AR6 will leave emission reduction potential on the table.
NASRC is spearheading efforts to eliminate the barriers to natural refrigerants in supermarkets and create a climate-friendly future for supermarket refrigeration. Together with a powerful network of supermarket industry stakeholders, we are driving the solutions needed to make natural refrigerants a feasible business choice for supermarkets and unlock their tremendous climate benefits.
Want to be a part of the action? Contact us to get involved!