International food wholesaler METRO has confirmed to NaturalRefrigerants.com that refrigeration in its stores in Slovakia is now 100% f-gas free, having transitioned to CO2 (R744)-based technologies.
The last of METRO Slovakia’s six facilities to be upgraded is its store in the Devínska Nová Ves district of Bratislava, according to Olaf Schulze, Director of Energy Management and Real Estate Sustainability at METRO Properties, the company’s real estate division.
The store’s new transcritical CO2 system, scheduled for commissioning in November, will cover all of the 14,400m2 (155,000ft2) store’s medium-temperature (MT) and low-temperature (LT) refrigeration needs, which consists of display cases and walk-in cold rooms. It will deliver cooling capacities of 588kW (167TR) for MT and 58kW (16.5TR) for LT.
The new system, supplied by French manufacturer CCR Commercial Refrigeration, has replaced the store’s existing R404A equipment, installed in 2010. It contains roughly 1.2 metric tons of R744.
By the end of the year, all of METRO Slovakia’s stores will also be equipped with photovoltaic solar panels, Schulze noted, adding that the PV panels will supply approximately 400,000kWh on average.
This achievement comes as the retailer celebrates 25 years of operation in Slovakia, he added.
Retrofit program
As of early October, 59% of METRO’s 658 wholesale stores and distribution centers were exclusively using natural refrigerants in their refrigeration applications, Schulze said. This is up from 50% in May 2024.
In 2025, new natural refrigerant-based equipment was installed in 41 of the wholesaler’s existing stores and distribution centers in nearly all METRO countries. This work was completed as part of the company’s F-gas Exit Program (FEP). While METRO is transitioning away from f-gases in refrigeration, synthetic refrigerants continue to be used in some air-conditioning and heat pump technologies, Schulze noted.
- METRO France: Eight stores installed natural refrigerant technologies in 2025. A further nine sites will be upgraded in 2026, making the refrigeration systems in all of METRO France’s 99 wholesale stores and distribution centers f-gas free, he added.
- METRO Serbia: The company installed its third transcritical CO2 system this year following its first two transcritical CO2 installations in late-2023 and mid-2024. Six of the country’s nine stores now use natural refrigerants with three other stores using plug-in propane (R290) cases. METRO Serbia’s central warehouse also uses CO2.
- METRO Kazakhstan: R290 plug-in cases will be installed in four stores over the next few months. Other upgrade projects are in the works, but retrofits will follow each store’s equipment lifecycle.
- METRO Austria: METRO is currently upgrading its 36,000m2 (387,500ft2) flagship store in Vösendorf, which is due for commissioning in November. The project, said to be the company’s biggest capital investment, features CO2-based technologies from Carrier. Waste heat from the store’s refrigeration system will be recovered and used for heating METRO Austria’s headquarters above the shop floor.
Future upgrades
In 2026, METRO Czech Republic will upgrade its final two stores – in Cerny Most and Stodulky – both of which will install CO2-based technologies. Initially planned for 2025, the two projects were postponed to next year to align with opportunities for government subsidies. In total, the country has 13 METRO stores and one distribution center, which uses ammonia (R717). METRO’s Brno store, which was upgraded in 2015, is the company’s only facility globally using R1234yf.
“Thanks to ATMOsphere, we stopped all such commercial cooling projects,” said Schulze.
“Thanks to ATMOsphere, we stopped all [R1234yf-based] commercial cooling projects.”
Olaf Schulze, Director of Energy Management and Real Estate Sustainability at METRO Properties
Store upgrades planned for next year also include Kragujevac, Serbia; Dornbirn, Austria; and Gaia, Portugal. METRO Portugal will upgrade its final store – Matosinhos – to natural refrigerants in 2027, he noted.
Efforts continue to find natural refrigerant equipment manufacturers and installers in Turkey. “It is under investigation, but I am optimistic to have a natural refrigerants project in Turkey in 2026,” he added.
Schulze will be presenting METRO’s journey with natural refrigerants in the market trends session at this year’s ATMO Europe Summit, taking place November 24–25 in Padova, Italy. In addition to providing the latest update on METRO’s refrigeration installations, Schulze will address the wholesaler’s introduction of natural refrigerants in its HVAC applications. The conference is hosted by ATMOsphere, publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com.
