The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) has joined the Climate & Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), a move the council said further positions itself to drive the change necessary to create a more level playing field for natural refrigerants.

The NASRC is a membership-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, committed to advancing natural refrigerants in the retail food sector. Since its founding in September 2015, the NASRC has taken action to shape a more climate-friendly future for retail food refrigeration by advancing natural refrigerants.

NASRC said that by participating in the CCAC, the council has an even greater platform from which to encourage governments, end-users, and equipment manufacturers to take action to tackle the challenges natural refrigerants face. The CCAC’s initiative to reduce the growth of hydrofluorocarbons calls for public and private actors to combine and mobilize the efforts of all governments and non-state parties, which corresponds well to the NASRC’s mission.

NASRC’s priorities include increasing the pool of service technicians that are qualified to work with natural refrigerants, helping to establish the necessary codes and standards to ensure safe use of these refrigerants, encouraging organizations and utilities to establish incentives for natural refrigerant use, and working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and equipment-certification organizations to speed up approval of natural refrigerant technologies.

“The NASRC is working tirelessly to show how natural refrigerants can be a win for the environment and for business. Its commitment and leadership in sustainable retail food refrigeration has now been recognized by the CCAC, enabling the NASRC to bring its expertise and action-oriented approach to the international arena,” said Todd Washburn, director of sales and marketing, retail division, True Manufacturing.

“The NASRC serves a critically important role, one that enables supermarket industry stakeholders to have a unified voice and effectively interact with governments on policy issues,” added Eduardo Navarro, vice president and general manager, systems division, Hillphoenix. “It has become the industry’s go-to nonprofit partner and the dedicated, expert voice of the food retail natural refrigerants movement.”

For more information, visit www.nasrc.org.