THE Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), a body comprising over 650 retailers, manufacturers, service providers and other stakeholders from 70 countries, has pledged to phase out HFCs from 2015. CGF members boast a combined turnover of $2.8 trillion and include, in the UK, retailers Alliance Boots, Booker, M&S, Tesco and Waitrose, and manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline, British American Tobacco, Innocent Drinks, Kraft Foods and Kimberley Clark.
The statement made today on the opening day of the sixth United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris said that the CGF board recognised the increasing contribution that HFCs make to total greenhouse gas emissions.

'We are therefore taking action to mobilize resources within our respective businesses to begin phasing-out HFC refrigerants as of 2015 and replace them with non-HFC refrigerants (natural refrigerant alternatives) where these are legally allowed and available for new purchases of point-of-sale units and large refrigeration installations.'

It said it recognised that barriers exist to wide scale adoption of more climate-friendly refrigeration - legislation, availability, cost, safety, maintenance and servicing - but would 'work to overcome those barriers by strengthening existing collaborative platforms and initiatives'.

It also said that it would 'use our collective influence to encourage our supply base to develop natural refrigerant technologies that meet our business demand under commercially viable conditions'.