USA – Thermo King Corporation of Bloomington, Minnesota has announced that it will begin using a more environmentally-friendly refrigerant as standard in all new trailer refrigeration units sold in North America from the middle of this year. The company claims the carbon footprint of the new refrigerant is 50% smaller than that of the old standard, saving an estimated total of approximately 650,000 metric tons in CO₂ emissions annually. 

The next-generation ‘Precedent’ line of refrigeration units already transitioned to using ‘R452A’ in January, while the rest of Thermo King’s products will follow suit from mid-2022, from which point all new products will no longer use the old standard, ‘R404A’. R452A has long been offered as an option in North America and has been the standard refrigerant in Thermo King’s products in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) market for several years. The new refrigerant will help Thermo King’s customers to meet proposed regulations such as the California Air Resources Board’s new rules, coming into effect at the beginning of 2023, which will require trailer refrigeration units in California to use refrigerants with a global warming potential (GWP) of 2200 or less.