Greener Reefers im internationalen Seeverkehr

Stand der Umsetzung/Ergebnisse

• The Kuehne Climate Center (www.kuehne-stiftung.org/…) announces collaboration with GIZ Greener Reefers project at COP 28 in Dubai, and founded the Greener Reefers Transition Alliance (www.green-cooling-initiative.org/…). The Alliance promotes Greener Reefers, which are highly energy efficient refrigerated maritime containers that use natural refrigerants and blowing agents with ultra-low climate impact (Global Warming Potential GWP below 3) and which do not contain F-gases and PFAS.
• With guest speakers from one of Europe’s largest independent research organisations on refrigerants, the Norwegian “Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning” (SINTEF), and Kuehne Foundation, the project presented the concept of Greener Reefers and their low climate-impact at COP 28 in the Montreal Protocol Pavilion. Greener Reefers are highly energy efficient refrigerated maritime containers that use natural refrigerants and blowing agents with ultra-low climate impact (Global Warming Potential below 1).
• Carrier Transicold and the project have agreed to collaborate to advance cold chain development and training in Costa Rica and South Africa. The memorandum of understanding was signed at COP 28 and focuses on providing training to technicians for refrigerated containers using natural refrigerants, such as carbon dioxide.
• Thermo King and GIZ launch pioneering "Greener Reefer" using natural refrigerants. The project aims to develop a safe and efficient intermodal shipping container with a lower carbon footprint compared to conventional reefers. This will be achieved by improved thermal insulation of the container and optimized reefer machinery system design. It will also feature R290, a hydrocarbon refrigerant with Global Warming Potential of under 0.1 and an ozone depletion potential of 0.
• The first reefer training with natural refrigerants was launched in 2025 in South Africa at the training center ACRA. Further trainings will be offered by this institution and in cooperation with the training center West Coast College.
• At the MOP 37 in Kenya under the Montreal Protocol, the project organized the side event “Driving the Transition for Sustainable Change in Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC)” for demonstrating the potential of natural refrigerants in the transport cooling and Mobile Air Conditioning sector.
• During the Intermodal 2025 in October in Barcelona, Spain, one of the main fairs for containers, the project organized the side event “Sustainable Transformation of Cold Chain: the Greener Reefers Project as a model for low-emission innovations” The session demonstrated that the global south is ready for the transition to propane-based reefers.

Letzte Aktualisierung:
05/2026

Weiterführende Links

• Kurzer Bericht zur Allianz für umweltfreundlichere Frachtcontainer (EN)
• Bericht: Carrier Transicold und GIZ kündigen Vereinbarung zur Förderung der Entwicklung der Kühlkette und der Dekarbonisierung in Costa Rica und Südafrika auf der COP28 an (EN)
• Bericht: Start der Green Reefer Alliance auf der UNFCCC COP28 (EN)
• Bericht: Grüne Kühlcontainer: Pionierarbeit für nachhaltige Kühlkettenlösungen - Eine Analyse des Minderungspotenzials (EN)
• Bericht: ATMO Europe: GIZ/Thermo King Collaborating on Proof of Concept for R290 Maritime Shipping Containers (EN)