United States. The Environmental Research Agency (EIA) released a report exposing Walmart and other major supermarkets that leach potent greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Leaking Havoc: Exposing your supermarket's invisible climate pollution, it's the result of a months-long investigation of dozens of supermarkets in the Washington, D.C. metro area, including Maryland and Virginia, that conclusively detected climate pollution in refrigerated aisles.
The research, which used industry-accepted leak detection technology, found that more than half of all stores investigated had leaks of superpolluting refrigerants. Using an infrared camera, EIA captured a shocking video showing HFCs leaking into products in an open refrigerated display case in a store.
"Despite empty promises, Walmart continues to use and filter powerful superpollutant chemicals. It is appalling that supermarkets cannot cope with and control these easily avoidable emissions, given our climate crisis," said Avipsa Mahapatra, leader of the EIA's climate campaign. Our investigation makes it clear that this blatant inaction is a crime against our climate and really should be illegal."
The EIA research, which focused on Walmart and other supermarkets with higher revenues, shows that 60% of the Walmart stores visited had an HFC refrigerant leak. In all other stores investigated, more than half had appreciable leaks of these superpollutants. A few stores still had high concentrations of HFCs months later.
The leakage of climate-damaging and ozone-depleting refrigerants can be prevented by proactive refrigerant management. Despite the current lack of HFC regulations, the recently passed American Manufacturing and Innovation Act (AIM) authorizes the EPA to regulate the production, use, and emissions of HFCs.
"It is alarming that the current regulatory landscape still allows supermarkets to legally use and filter HFCs in massive quantities," said Christina Starr, Senior Policy Analyst at EIA. "With the recent passage of the AIM Act, it is time for epa to design more effective regulations to accelerate the replacement of HFCs with climate-friendly refrigerants and to require companies to monitor and mitigate leaks."
Source: https://www.climatefriendlysupermarkets.org/leaking-havoc
