ShareNew IIR figures highlight the role of the refrigeration sector
On the occasion of the upcoming publication of two new Informatory Notes, the IIR has established new figures illustrating the importance of the refrigeration sector.
In line with the scope of the International Institute of Refrigeration, the refrigeration sector includes the cold chain of food and health products, air conditioning, cryogenics and heat pumps.
Refrigeration has multiple applications and is present in many areas, including food, health, industry and energy. As such, at COP28, refrigeration was recognised by the United Nations as a development priority, due to the benefits it offers to human life, and as an environmental priority due to its impact on climate change.
In the coming months, the IIR will publish two Informatory Notes containing new figures to emphasise the growing importance of refrigeration in the economy and to quantify its current and future energy and environmental impact:
- a new Informatory Note on the carbon footprint of air conditioning;
- an update of the Information Note on the role of refrigeration in the global economy (see the 2019 version).
Based on the results obtained during the preparation of these notes, the IIR reaches the following conclusions:
- Electricity consumption attributable to the refrigeration sector – excluding heat pumps – currently represents around 20% of global electricity consumption.
- The corresponding CO2 emissions are equivalent to around 10% of global energy-related emissions (1).
Compared to those previously published by the IIR, these figures reflect an increase in the use of cold and illustrate its growing importance.
Air conditioning is the main component of this electricity consumption and emissions. An essential means of adaptation to global warming, its contribution is likely to increase if no strong measures are implemented to mitigate its impact. However, there is considerable scope for reversing this trend and considerably reducing air conditioning emissions by 2050. With this in mind, district cooling, solar cooling and passive cooling technologies should be considered a priority.
Beyond air conditioning, reducing the carbon footprint of the refrigeration sector as a whole requires the promotion of highly energy-efficient technologies and equipment and the rapid adoption of refrigerants with low or very low impact on the climate. More generally, the increased use of decarbonised electricity production methods, using renewable energies, would have an environmental benefit extended to all equipment that consumes electricity.
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