Major grocery chains are accelerating the climate crisis with leaking HFCs from refrigeration, urging immediate action to adopt climate-friendly alternatives.
Safeway and other major grocery chains have a huge climate problem. Refrigerators in the companies’ stores using potent super-pollutant gasses, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), are leaking and accelerating the climate crisis.
A recent investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency, YouthPower Climate Action, and Green America used advanced technology in grocery stores in Northern California to detect leaks. We found half of the stores we visited had leaks of climate-polluting gasses. These harmful, human-made gasses are leaking out of refrigeration systems and rapidly entering our atmosphere.
Eliminating HFCs and adopting climate-friendly refrigerants is a top solution to address the climate crisis that can prevent nearly half a degree of global warming – crucial to limiting to 1.5 degrees celsius. Better cooling can help prevent 460 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years.
Each major supermarket chain – Safeway, Kroger, Ralphs, Save Mart, Albertsons, and Walmart – needs to act by setting a zero-leak tolerance policy and publicly committing to adopt climate-friendly refrigerants in all new stores and retrofits, and developing a plan to phase out use of HFCs by 2035.
Safeway and other major grocery store chains must act now. Sign the petition here
Original source: https://actionnetwork.org
