What shaped 2025 in practice:
Regulation and standards became less linear, with reviews, petitions, and evolving timelines pushing companies to plan for multiple scenarios.
Safety readiness moved to the core of system design and service, driven by wider deployment of A2L refrigerants and hydrocarbons and rising attention to leak detection and verification.
Environmental scrutiny widened beyond GWP, with more focus on lifecycle impacts and chemical-policy pressure that can influence long-term refrigerant strategies.
Digital operations accelerated, with continuous monitoring and analytics increasingly seen as practical tools for leak reduction, reporting, and performance stability.
Component and platform innovation remained central, as compressors, validated testing, and equipment design translated transition goals into real installations.
Cold chain investment continued to grow, with decarbonisation framed more often as project-level engineering and measurable performance.
Regional highlights in the full review include:
United States: compliance uncertainty under the AIM Act review environment, alongside continued consolidation and operational digitalisation.
UK and Europe: strong transition pressure paired with policy volatility and active discussions around standards and safety readiness.
Asia: large-scale industrial and cold chain activity with policy signals and corporate repositioning shaping market direction.