Use of Natural Refrigerants Expanding Across South Africa Retail and Logistics

South Africa has continued to expand the use of natural refrigerants across retail and logistics applications, according to ATMOsphere’s 2025 report “Refrigeration: Commercial and Industrial Refrigeration with Natural Refrigerants.” ATMOsphere is the publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com.

That growth has been particularly evident in CO₂ (R744) refrigeration, with commercial and industrial installations tripling from 220 in May 2020 – when ATMOsphere last gathered data on natural refrigerants in the country – to 660 as of December 2025. Of those installations, 650 are in the country’s estimated 7,600 grocery stores and supermarkets, representing an 8.5% market penetration, while the remaining 10 are in industrial sites.

Both local manufacturing and technician training support the adoption of CO₂ in the country. Since manufacturing its first transcritical CO₂ system in 2021, SCM Ref Africa, a subsidiary of Beijer Ref, reports supplying almost 100 CO₂ racks for food retail, agriculture and logistics applications, including installations in regions where summer temperatures can reach up to 42°C (107°F). Contractor Commercial Refrigeration Services opened South Africa’s first-ever CO₂-training facility in Johannesburg in 2016.

Commercial uptake: Major retailers leading the charge to adopt natural refrigerants in South Africa include Pick n Pay, Woolworths and Shoprite.

• Of Pick n Pay’s 2,269 supermarkets, 340, or 15%, use natural refrigerants. The company’s policy includes installing transcritical CO₂ refrigeration in all new and refurbished stores.
• Of Woolworths 388 South African supermarkets, 171, or 44%, used CO₂ refrigeration systems as of 2024. The retailer installed CO₂ refrigeration in 18 new or refurbished stores in 2025.
• Shoprite, with 2,896 supermarkets and liquor stores, reports that all 32 of its distribution centers and the majority of its plug-in refrigeration cabinets use natural refrigerants. The company’s transportation fleet also uses natural refrigerants, with 278 of its trailers equipped with nitrogen-based refrigeration.

On the big side: Despite the relatively small number of industrial sites in South Africa using CO₂, the country’s installations are typically large-scale.

• In March 2024, MEDLOG Cold Storage opened a 15,000m² (161,458ft²) CO₂-cooled facility in Durban with capacity for 10,000 pallets of chilled and frozen goods.
• Maersk has also expanded its CO₂-based cold chain in South Africa. In 2021 the Danish shipping company opened an 11,000m² (118,403ft²) cold storage facility in Hammarsdale with a 5.2MW (1,478TR) transcritical CO₂ refrigeration system.
• In 2025 Maersk opened additional CO₂-cooled cold storage facilities in Cape Town and Cato Ridge, near Durban, with refrigeration systems supplied by Danish manufacturer Advansor.

Complete thermal solution: In late 2025 wholesale retailer Makro, part of the Massmart Group, opened an integrated 1.6MW (455TR) CO₂ store in New London.

• The central CO₂ plant, designed by South Africa-based engineering firm Future Green Now (FGN), meets all of the store’s thermal energy loads, including low- and medium-temperature refrigeration, air-conditioning, space heating and domestic hot water.
• Compared to a conventional R404A refrigeration and chilled-water air-conditioning system, FGN estimates the integrated CO₂ design reduces electricity consumption by 20–30%.

Quotable: “We’ve learned that simplified systems optimized for annual temperature conditions and integrated with HVAC applications take advantage of CO₂, making it cost-competitive, energy-efficient and user-friendly,” said Wynand Groenewald, Founder and CEO of FGN, who has 19 years of experience with CO₂ refrigeration. Groenewald delivered the keynote address at ATMO America 2025, hosted by ATMOsphere.