Baseline Refrigeration Emissions in the UK

Food cold chains are energy intensive and use high global warming refrigerants. The aim of this work was to benchmark the existing UK cold chain and provide robust evidence-based data on emissions in 2020. Only emissions from refrigeration within UK borders was considered, both from refrigerant leakage and from electrical power usage. Refrigeration in the food cold chain accounted for approximately 28.6 TWh/a of electrical energy consumption. Emissions caused by the generation of the electrical power, plus the emissions from road transport vehicles attributed to the TRUs were between 6.9 and 7.9 MtCO2e. Emissions from the refrigerants within the refrigerated equipment were 5.4 MtCO2e. It is clear from the results that energy consumption of domestic refrigeration and refrigerant emissions from retail refrigeration are the sectors which require the greatest focus.