Greener Reefers in international maritime transport

Reefer containers are vital for trading food and non-food products globally. At the same time, they are also an important source of emissions and contribute notably to the 140 million tonnes of CO2eq annual emissions released by the container shipping industry. This is due to the use of harmful refrigerants and the high energy consumption of conventional reefer containers. The sector is growing rapidly, increasing the negative climate impacts considerably in a business-as-usual scenario. To mitigate these impacts, refrigerant leakages and energy consumption need to be reduced and sustainable solutions with natural refrigerants and high energy efficiency levels need to be promoted. The project is training reefer technicians to reduce leakage rates and ensure optimized energy efficiency. It is also piloting climate-friendly and energy-efficient reefer containers.