World News

USA/CANADA: A recall has been issued on 1.7 million window air conditioners manufactured by Midea and sold in the US and Canada due to concerns over potential mould growth.  

HUNGARY: Haier Europe Appliances Holding has completed the acquisition of Budapest-based air conditioning wholesaler and contractor Klima Kft.

BRAZIL: Nidec is to invest $120m factory in a new 55,000m2 factory in India for the manufacture of Embraco residential and commercial refrigeration compressors and electronic components. 

SWEDEN: Anders Mattson has been appointed CEO and president of Sdiptech, a technical business group with focus on infrastructures.

DENMARK: The Nordic Climate Group continues its growth in the Danish market with two new contractor acquisitions in the Jutland region of northern Denmark.

USA: Daikin has completed the installation of a solar power plant of nearly 1MW at its North American headquarters near Waller, Texas. 

JAPAN: Panasonic has developed an automatic fluorocarbon recovery system for air conditioning units with the aim of improving the efficiency of dismantling used air conditioners.

JAPAN: Paloma Rheem Holdings has announced the successful conclusion of its tender offer for the common shares of the Fujitsu General air conditioning business. 

NETHERLANDS: Chemours must pay a penalty of €1m for violating the European F-gas regulation by importing the high GWP HFC23 gas for use at its polymer and elastomer plant in Dordrecht. 

AUSTRIA: Ecop, the Austrian developer of a highly efficient, single-stage rotation industrial heat pump has secured €10.5m investment to expand its production capacities.

USA/ITALY: US testing company UL Solutions has announced an expansion of its facility in Carugate, Italy, to meet growing European demand for comprehensive heat pump performance and safety testing.

UK: To celebrate World Refrigeration Day (WRD) 2025 and its Cool Skills theme, the WRD secretariat is inviting individuals and organisations to share their successes.

SPAIN: New research has found that dimethyl ether (RE170) and ternary mixtures of the same refrigerant with CO2 and butane could improve the energy efficiency of vapour compression systems.

CANADA: Trane has officially opened its first Canadian Trane Rental site in Brantford, Ontario.

SWEDEN: Sales of heat pumps in Sweden bounced back in Q1, increasing by 38% compared to last year, despite low housing construction.

BELGIUM: AREA, the European association of refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump contractors, has expanded its membership to 26 with the addition of new representative groups from Greece and Portugal.

POLAND: Polish customs officials have stopped more refrigerant being smuggled across the border from Ukraine in vehicle LPG tanks. Officers from the customs department in…

BELGIUM: A group of companies have a formed a new association to provide a unified voice for the food manufacturing technologies and equipment sector in Europe’s evolving food systems.

USA: Refrigerant and cylinder manufacturers in the US have admitted to being caught by surprise at the high level of demand for the lower GWP refrigerant R454B.

USA: Researchers in the US claim to have developed an easily manufacturable solid-state thermoelectric refrigeration technology that is twice as efficient as similar devices.

UAE: Daikin has formed a “strategic” partnership with Al Shola, a leading construction equipment rental company based in Dubai.

USA: In a further move to ease US R454B shortages, Carrier has announced it will convert its excess bulk R454B refrigerant into 20lb cylinders for use by distributors and contractor.

USA: Modine is investing more than $38m in the expansion of its data centre chiller factory in Grenada, Mississippi.

CHINA: The Danfoss factory in Tianjin recently hosted a visit from the Danish minister for foreign affairs, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, during the politician’s high-level tour of China.

UK: The secretariat of World Refrigeration Day has revealed that this year’s activities will be marked by an emphasis on the diverse and essential skills that make cooling and sustainable heating possible.

USA: Chemours has announced a strategic agreement to further demonstrate and develop advanced liquid cooling solutions for data centres alongside other industry leaders.

FRANCE: Arkema is to expand its range of lower GWP HFO blend refrigerants through a new commercial arrangement with Honeywell.