TABLE OF CONTENTS

Business & Policy Climate for Natural Refrigerants
The speed and level at which natural refrigerant systems
become an established solution on the European market
depend on policy and industry conditions likewise.
511 European respondents were asked to answer the
question “How is the Business & Policy Climate evolving
in your country?” for Natural Refrigerants overall, and
for each of the three refrigerants surveyed: ammonia,
carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons. The results obtained
paint a clear picture of how different the situation is
evaluated for each specific refrigerant, where CO 2
seems
to face the brightest future, whereas hydrocarbons are
confronted with greater challenges (outside domestic
refrigeration).
Natural Refrigerants overall
When asked to evaluate the business and policy climate
for natural refrigerants overall, respondents tended to
rate the current situation in Europe as “rather positive”.
The highest absolute agreement rate (46%) was hence
registered for this option. Only 7% were pessimistic
(“highly negative” and “rather negative”), while a total
of 60% were optimistic (“rather positive” and “very positive”).
One-third was undecided if current market and
industry trends would favour or block the usage of CO 2
,
NH 3
and HCs. Interestingly, the ratings for “NR overall”
were on average more positive than the individual ratings
for “ammonia”, “CO 2
” and “Hydrocarbons” would
have suggested. In fact, responses for the “NR overall”
situation were closest aligned to the values for “CO 2
” for
all categories. This might be related to the fact that most
respondents to the survey represented the commercial
and industrial refrigeration industry where CO 2
is a
promising candidate, and hence the evaluation for the
natural refrigerant industry as a whole was influenced by
the respondent’s positive experience in these two sectors.
Overall, responses obtained are also closely related
to the industry expectations per sector and the barriers
to the uptake of natural working fluids (see pages 98 to
99 & pages 104 to 106).
Unsurprisingly, the sub-set of respondents not planning
to use natural refrigerants rated the situation for “NR
overall” slightly more negatively. 14% (versus 7% for all
respondents) evaluated the current situation as being
negative, and 36% (versus 33%) did not see the business
and policy climate moving into any clear direction.
However, interestingly, also here a clear majority of 52%
(versus 60% for all respondents) were optimistic about
the overall policy and business frameworks in place today
for NR.
CO 2
: Blue skies ahead?
When looking at the ratings for CO 2
individually, respondents
are generally largely optimistic about the
evolving industry and policy climate. Only 8% of participants
believed the current situation in their European
country would be “highly negative” or “rather negative”,
whereas 63% rated conditions to be “rather positive” or
even “highly positive”. This result is well above the average
given for ammonia and hydrocarbons, and tends to
reflect positive outlooks for carbon dioxide in several
applications, including (light-)commercial and industrial
refrigeration. However, caution should be applied as
close to one-third (29%) were uncertain about the direction
the market would take.
Participants with no plans to use R744 were significantly
more pessimistic about supporting market and policy
frameworks put into place in Europe today. 10% rated
the situation as “highly negative” for CO 2
, balanced by
16% on the other end of the spectrum stating it would
be “highly positive”. In between, most of all respondents
were unsure about the direction markets would take in
the current climate. A marked difference can hence be
seen between organisations already investing into CO 2
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