Refrigerants, Naturally! wins Roy Award

The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) announced March 24 that the 2011 Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership will be given to Refrigerants, Naturally!, an alliance of corporations substituting environmentally harmful fluorinated gases (“F-gases,” such as CFCs, HCFCs, and HFCs) with natural refrigerants in their commercial refrigeration installations. Natural refrigerants are climate- and ozone-friendly gases that exist naturally in the biosphere such as ammonia, carbon dioxide, and hydrocarbons.

The award is presented every two years to celebrate an outstanding public-private partnership project that enhances environmental quality through the use of novel and creative approaches. It will be presented to the recipients at an HKS event later this spring.

Refrigerants, Naturally! brings together four high-profile private companies — Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s, Unilever, and PepsiCo — and two international environmental organizations — Greenpeace and the United Nations Environment Programme — to combat climate change and ozone layer depletion by developing natural refrigeration technologies that are safe, reliable, affordable, and energy efficient.

For more information on Refrigerants, Naturally! and the award.