The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a nonprofit that supports adoption of natural refrigerants in supermarkets, has announced that it will be leading two-day technician training on natural refrigerant systems across New York State from February 2027 through the end of 2027.
The new initiative, called the New York Natural Refrigerant Workforce Development Program, is funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). Aimed at the refrigeration technician workforce, the program is designed to “build the technical capacity, recruitment pipeline and industry coordination needed to support New York’s transition to low-global-warming-potential refrigeration technologies,” said the NASRC.
The “typically free” training will include one day of classroom instruction and one day of hands-on training on a live operating system “to build skills in operation, service, maintenance, controls and troubleshooting” of natural refrigerant systems, said the NASRC, adding that training is “vendor-neutral and customized to site-specific refrigeration systems and requests.”
NASRC is seeking host partners to provide a classroom, access to a natural refrigerant system, or both. “If your organization can provide only one, NASRC may be able to coordinate with another local partner to provide the other component,” said the NASRC.
Eligible host organizations include New York based refrigeration contractors, food retailers and other end users, manufacturers, distributors, training institutions and other industry partners. Host technicians may receive priority registration, said NASRC, adding that hosts are encouraged to open available spaces to technicians from the surrounding area.
“The states are still here. We started working together to see the Kigali Amendment implemented in the U.S. and to do whatever we can.”
Suzanne Hagell, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Hosting a training, said the NASRC, is an opportunity to “build the capacity of your own technicians and local service network, increase the number of technicians prepared to work safely and effectively on natural refrigerant systems, and help strengthen New York’s statewide readiness for evolving refrigeration technologies and refrigerant requirements.”
More details on hosting a training event can be found here. Applications for hosting a training event are due by October 23. Interested parties can apply here.
Ambitious HFC regulations
New York’s HFC regulations, updated in December 2024, are among the most ambitious in the U.S., surpassing in some respects the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The updated regulations amended 6 NYCRR Part 494, Hydrofluorocarbon Standards and Reporting, establishing GWP thresholds for refrigerants and requirements for equipment leakage.
These regulations include 20-year GWP limits of 10 for many new HVAC&R systems starting in 2034, thereby helping to foster the adoption of natural refrigerant-based applications. They did not require the replacement of existing equipment prior to the end of its useful life. The regulations also implement a phasedown of HFC production and imports in line with those of the AIM Act and the global Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
Other states with proactive HFC regulations include California and Washington. Those states, plus 20 others and the territory of Guam, comprise the U.S. Climate Alliance, which is dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the absence of federal action.
“The states are still here,” said Suzanne Hagell, Chief of the GHG Mitigation Bureau, Office of Climate Change, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC); she spoke on September 22 at the Cool House, part of Climate Week NYC, organized by REEF (the Refrigerant Emissions Elimination Forum). “We started working together to see the Kigali Amendment implemented in the U.S. and to do whatever we can.”
Hagell also spoke on June 2 at the ATMOsphere (ATMO) America 2026 conference in Tarrytown, N.Y., where she explained why New York enacted its HFC regulations and how they would lead to replacing HFCs with natural refrigerants. ATMO America, which is organized by ATMOsphere (publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com), will be returning to the New York City area on June 16–17, 2027.
Poughkeepsie event
On February 10–12, 2026, NASRC held its first training event in New York in Poughkeepsie, particularly to address a perceived knowledge gap among New York State technicians regarding CO2 (R744) refrigeration. This was one of several training events NASRC has held this year in the U.S.
Component manufacturer Copeland, one of the companies providing instruction and equipment at the Poughkeepsie event, explained the operation of a medium-temperature transcritical CO2 scroll compressor rack.
The NASRC formalized its training program in 2024 with the launch of R-TRADE (refrigeration technician recruitment, advancement, development and education); seed funding came from five major stakeholders in the U.S. grocery retail sector: Albertsons, Amazon, Costco, Kroger and Walmart. The NASRC describes R-TRADE as a nationwide workforce development program with the goal of training more than 14,000 refrigeration technicians.
Last year the nonprofit added the R-TRADE Supporters program, which enables organizations to contribute funding directly to the training initiative without becoming a member of the NASRC.