The Refrigerants, Naturally! Initiative, a global initiative of companies committed to combat climate change and ozone layer depletion by substituting harmful fluorinated gases with natural refrigerants, will organize a technical session ("Refrigerants, Naturally! It works") at the IIR Gustav-Lorentzen-Conference 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark on 8th of September between 2pm and 5.30pm.

Launched in 2004 by The Coca Cola Company, Unilever and McDonald's, the Refrigerants, Naturally! Initiative was the recipient of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Protection Award in 2005. The next year, three other global companies joined the network: Carlsberg, IKEA and PepsiCo. The aim of these six companies is to reduce their impact on climate change by replacing refrigerants with HFC-free refrigerants, by using HFC-free insulation material and by reducing the energy consumption of new refrigerating equipment.

Moderated by John Gummer, former UK Environment Secretary, the technical session will feature presentations on ‘Hydrocarbons - for Cleaner Greener Coolers and Freezers’, by Alan Gerrard, Global Project Leader, Unilever, and Eskild Andersen, Environmental Manager, Carlsberg, as well as ‘HFC-Free Technologies For Cold Drink Equipment’, by Antoine Azar, eKOfreshment Program Manager, The Coca-Cola Company, and Michel Saba, Director of Equipment Development, PepsiCo. Next, Else Krueck, Director Environment and CSR, McDonald’s Europe, and Tom Pedersen, Construction Manager, IKEA Group, will talk about ‘Natural Refrigerants in a Retail Environment - the IKEA & McDonald's Challenge’. Finally, there will be a Panel Discussion with the participation of the representatives of each corporate member of Refrigerants, Naturally!, reveals the organizer’s press release.