UK: Gregory Barker, the minister for climate change, has announced that the government is to set up a taskforce to look at potential energy savings in the retail sector and has called on retailers to get rid of HFCs.
Making his comments in London yesterday at the 3rd Refrigeration Summit organised by the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Gregory Barker, said: 'Energy efficiency is not only vital for reducing the impact of global climate change, but will also boost the UK economy, stimulate growth and give our businesses a real competitive edge in the low carbon global race.

'This Coalition Government remains determined to be the greenest ever and we need our retail sector - which is of great importance to the UK economy - to follow suit and take a leading role on energy efficiency.

'Refrigeration is a significant part of this and that is why I'm calling on retailers to agree to freeze out costly HFC refrigeration. I'm also setting up a new Taskforce with the retail sector to help unlock the significant further potential for energy savings in this sector.'

Hosted by Tesco and sub-titled 'Moving away from HFCs...Naturally!', the Summit brought together some 150 retailers and technology supplier participants to discuss ways to increase the global uptake of natural refrigeration systems.

The Consumer Goods Forum is made up of the CEOs and senior management of over 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers and other stakeholders from 70 countries. Reducing the use of HFC refrigerants is high on the Forum's agenda, its refrigeration resolution stating that members will begin phasing-out HFC refrigerants as of 2015 and replace them with non-HFC natural alternatives.

Key observations at the Summit were that the cost of natural refrigeration systems was coming down, making them more competitive but that more work was needed to develop cost-effective systems that work as well in hotter climates. Concerns were also raised that the industry needs to develop its capacity to supply to retailers globally and to grow the skills base to build and maintain these systems.

Commenting on the Summit, Philip Clarke, group chief executive of Tesco, said: 'It is important for retailers to tackle their use of refrigerant gases which have such a significant impact on climate change. The Summit has enabled the world's top retailers to share the latest information on this innovative technology so that they can scale up our industry's use of natural refrigeration.'

The event was chaired by Steve Lanigan, Global Refrigeration Consultants, and speakers included retailers Aeon, Delhaize Group, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Woolworths Australia, pack manufacturer Advansor, and CO2 design consultant Hamilton Clark. Several retailers and suppliers also took part in the retailers' panel and suppliers' panel during the day.

Around the presentations, CGF's retail members were also able to see different systems in operation through visits to a London store tour of Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.