World News

GERMANY: Germany’s first seawater heat pump supplying heat into a district heating network has been officially inaugurated after several months of trials.

USA: Refrigerant reclaimer Hudson Technologies has signed a joint development agreement with US company Icorium for the commercialisation of Icorium’s patented extractive distillation technology.

JAPAN: French refrigerant manufacturer Arkema has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against HighChem Co, a Tokyo-based Japanese hybrid chemical trading house and manufacturer.

ITALY/SWITZERLAND: Daikin Applied Europe and Swiss data centre contractor CTS Group claim to have developed a cooling concept capable of delivering PUE below 1.2 even in the hottest climates.

FRANCE: Cooling was amongst the main topics of today’s state of the union address by Ursula von der Leyen, with the EU president proposing a new European Heatwave Plan.

USA: United Nations secretary-general António Guterres has urged countries to implement the Kigali Amendment and accelerate the shift to sustainable cooling.

NETHERLANDS: Bakker Vakkeuken, a Dutch contractor specialist in commercial kitchen and refrigeration technology, has become part of the Swedish Nordic Climate Group.

USA: The cooling tower at the Yankee Stadium in New York’s South Bronx is one of 10 ordered to be treated following a legionnaires’ disease outbreak in the city.

JAPAN: Mitsubishi Electric claims to have developed a plate heat exchanger for heat pumps with a heat transfer performance triple that of its conventional grooved plate heat exchangers.

ITALY: Production is now underway at a new €24m Clivet heat pump factory in Feltre, northern Italy.

USA: US shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps totalled 916,830 units in July, down 10.43% on the previous month, but an increase of 20.1% on July 2025.

FRANCE: Gazechim has announced the expansion of its refrigerant recovery, purification and regeneration capacity with a second refrigerant distillation unit in France and plans for a similar plant in the UK.

USA: Swedish air treatment and climate solutions company Munters has inaugurated its expanded data centre cooling factory in Daleville, Virginia.

EUROPE: Refrigerant prices in Europe remained relatively stable in the second quarter of 2026, according to latest figures published by the European Commission.

SWEDEN/GREECE: Wholesaler Beijer Ref has signed an agreement to acquire 75% of the shares in FG Europe, with an option to acquire the remaining shares.

USA: Modine is to change its name to Modexus Solutions after completing the spinoff of its Performance Technologies business.

USA: ASHRAE and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have renewed their longstanding memorandum of understanding to advance sustainable refrigeration and air conditioning.

SPAIN: Investigations are centred on local cooling towers following a legionnaires’ disease outbreak which has infected 31 people in the Pamplona/Iruña region.

BELGIUM: Solstice has announced the launch of its R1234yf vehicle air conditioning system retrofit kit, enabling the conversion of existing R134a vehicle systems to the low GWP alternative.

USA/CANADA: Daikin Comfort Technologies has issued a further recall of certain models in its Amana range of window and through-the-wall air conditioners due to risk of serious injury from fire.

ITALY: Heat exchanger product manufacturer Lu-Ve has reported a turnover of €325.1m in the first half of the year, an increase of 10.3% on the same period in 2025.

DENMARK: Haier HVAC Solutions is partnering with Solar Danmark A/S to bring its latest R290 air-to-water heat pump portfolio to installers in Denmark.

GERMANY: Faced with rising refrigerant costs and decreasing availability, Europe’s largest automobile association has warned its German members against purchasing cheap vehicle AC refill kits based on butane or propane.

BELGIUM: Eurovent has launched an online tool designed to help legislators, shop owners, and building professionals assess the effectiveness of air curtains.

SOUTH KOREA: The National Fire Agency, Korea's central fire administrative agency, has blamed a series of recent air conditioner fires on illegal mixed refrigerants containing dangerous R40 (methyl chloride).

GERMANY/JAPAN: Researchers in Germany and Japan have developed a new approach to solid-state cooling that uses heat instead of electricity.

BELGIUM: The European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) is inviting companies across Europe to embrace and become involved with Heat Pump Day on 21 October.