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A new video released by Greenpeace International on 19 November is unveiling the “naked truth about F-gases” to call for global action on HFCs, and a strong support for natural refrigerants. The Greenpeace petition to climate negotiators in Copenhagen will highlight the success of Greenfreeze technology in domestic fridges worldwide.

The video released this Thursday unveils “The naked truth about the F-word and the climate” by explaining to global supporters of the environmental group the catastrophic impact of HFCs and other fluorinated gases on the climate. Using different body parts painted with warning signs and easy-to-understand examples of how climate-damaging F-gases are, the Greenpeace call for action urges an early switch to natural refrigerants as solutions tried, tested, and ready to go. Only a phase out of HFCs by 2020 would avoid catastrophic climate change.

Just by releasing the 300 grams of refrigerant contained in a domestic fridge the climate impact would equal driving a VW Golf from London to Moscow. With developing countries being more and more able to afford air conditioning and refrigeration, this number would be set to rise to 34,000 Volkswagen driving from the Earth to Jupiter and back. This alone would result in 10% more carbon emissions than the US is scheduled to release in 2010.

Greenfreeze technology “tried, tested, and ready to go”

An early phase out of F-gases would not pose any problems as natural refrigerants would constitute a proven technology running in millions of units and installations worldwide. As a major success story the video highlights the 350 million domestic refrigerators running on hydrocarbons around the world. An increasing number of drinks and food manufacturers and retailers would now invest in natural solutions as “the future of cool”, the video continues. A major challenge would be to convince developing countries to skip HFCs and directly go to natural refrigerants.

Call for Action: sign your body

Supporters of an HFC phase out and the use of natural refrigerants worldwide are urged to sign the petition to world leaders on www.greenpeace.org/f . To strengthen the message, an image of a signed part of their body can be uploaded to the Greenpeace International website.



Strong stance on HFC/HFO

Staring in the video is David Kanter, consultant for Greenpeace International, and expert on the phase-out of F-gases. Kanter, recently unveiling Greenpeace’ strong stance on HFCs and its latest generation marketed as HFOs at the Atmosphere 2009 conference in Brussels, is part of the F-gases action team formed to draw attention to the known and unknown environmental and health risks of fluorinated compounds.