Dear Green American, Refrigerators in Kroger stores mostly use super-polluting hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that leak and accelerate the climate crisis. Kroger claims to have a plan for reducing its climate change footprint, but its climate roadmap shows no reductions in HFCs and shows its emissions just plateauing. More needs to be done in its over 2700 stores. AND if the merger with Albertson’s goes through, the company’s climate footprint will only get bigger. Kroger needs to commit to moving all its stores to natural refrigerants. With EPA regulations looming for HFC reductions and competitors like Whole Foods and Aldi already taking steps on refrigerants, Kroger is falling behind in protecting the communities it serves. The company needs to publicly commit to adopt ultra-low global warming potential natural refrigerants (<10 GWP) in all new stores and retrofits, and to develop a plan to phase out use of HFCs by 2035, with an interim target to heavily reduce HFC emissions by 2030. Tell Kroger the time to act is now. The climate crisis is here, and we can’t wait. |
