World News

USA: Refrigerant manufacturer Solstice has announced plans to invest $49m in an expansion of R&D capabilities at its Buffalo, New York, facility.

USA: US shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps totalled 756,739 units in August, an increase of 11.4% on August 2025.

NETHERLANDS: The Dutch government wants homeowners to switch to a smart and hybrid heat pump from 2029 when replacing their central heating boiler.

SWEDEN/LITHUANIA: Beijer Ref has completed the acquisition of Lithuanian HVACR equipment manufacturer Refra.

CANADA: The Canadian government is pledging CAD2bn (€1.25bn) over eight years to boost the installation of heat pumps.

GERMANY: Leading German HVACR associations have warned against a blanket PFAS ban and urged that the economic impacts of a ban be considered alongside the environmental ones.

USA: LG Electronics has signed a major multi-year deal with AIR Control Concepts to supply chillers with more than 5GW of capacity for data centres in the US and Canada.

DENMARK: Danfoss Climate Solutions is to sell its Appliance Controls business to a new company established by Andrej Debnar and Peter Haas, two of the managers at its Slovakian factory.

PHILIPPINES: The Philippines customs authority has raised the equivalent of nearly US$200,000 from the auction of 29 tonnes of seized illegal refrigerant.

ISRAEL: Israel has become the latest country to ratify the Kigali Amendment to phase down HFCs.

UK: Aspen Pumps Group has announced the acquisitions of refrigeration components manufacturer Henry Group Industries, Belgian recycled rubber construction materials specialist RubberGreen and Brazilian refrigeration components company Forming Tubing.

SWEDEN/CHINA: Atlas Copco has completed its acquisition of Chinese  industrial heating and cooling equipment manufacturer Guangdong Euroklimat Air Conditioning & Refrigeration.

USA: LG Electronics is expanding its global chiller manufacturing capabilities with a new factory in Virginia to meet growing data centre chiller demand.

USA: HVACR groups are urging the New York City Department of Buildings to update its A2L refrigerant safety requirements in line with current standards.

GERMANY: Panasonic Heating & Cooling Europe has declared an official partnership with German Bundesliga football club Borussia Dortmund (BVB) to work on specific projects to modernise the club’s infrastructure.

NETHERLANDS: Swedish manufacturer Systemair plans to discontinue production at the factory of its Dutch subsidiary Systemair Production BV in Waalwijk.

UK: Vertiv has announced the addition of a further 22,000m2 of manufacturing capacity to its current 56,000m2 data centre power and cooling equipment factory in Slovakia.

USA: Kentucky-based KCC Manufacturing has formed a partnership with Transaera to scale US production of outdoor air systems using solid desiccants to remove moisture before cooling.

FRANCE: Chinese heat pump manufacturer Axen has commenced production in France in a joint venture with French heating company Perge.

NORWAY: After two difficult years, the ventilation and cooling/heat pump market in Norway now appears to have bottomed out.

BELGIUM: The European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) is reporting increased residential heat pump sales in Europe in the first six months of the year.

CHINA: Sam Jones of the United Kingdom has won the gold medal in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning at WorldSkills Shanghai 2026.

SOUTH KOREA: LG Electronics has qualified its 2.6MW coolant distribution unit as NVIDIA DSX Ready, meeting the applicable reference design requirements for AI factory infrastructure.

GERMANY: Next month’s Chillventa exhibition in Nuremberg is set to be the largest and most comprehensive ever, with over 1,100 exhibitors and a wide-ranging programme of talks and seminars.

USA: As the Kigali Amendment marks its tenth anniversary, world governments have joined forces to accelerate access to sustainable cooling and cut emissions. Gathering in…

UK: Nominations are now open for the J&E Hall Gold Medal, the annual award for the most noteworthy practical contribution to innovation in RACHP technology.

ITALY: Asset management firm Ambienta has continued the expansion of its Frigoveneta commercial and industrial refrigeration platform with the acquisitions of two further Italian companies.