With availability, market and regulatory hurdles constantly being cleared for a maturing North American natural refrigerants market, participants at the ATMOsphere America conference confirmed that the major push to put the USA on track for a world leadership in R744 technology will happen in the next 5 years. The 2^nd edition of the meeting started off with market trends and examples of leadership shown by North American corporations in driving the HFC-free technology market forward.

Higher capital costs, as well as unfavourable standards and regulation are still the two most obvious challenges holding back a rapid market expansion of CO₂ (R744) in commercial refrigeration and other applications, concluded 200 attendees at the ATMOsphere America conference held from 17-19 June in Washington DC. Organised for the 2^nd time, the event brought together end-users, component and system suppliers, associations, regulatory bodies, and NGOs, brought together by their shared interest in moving the market for natural refrigerants forward, and in building the “business case for natural refrigerants”, as the event tagline promised.

As compared to the 1st edition in 2012 participants were more confident that North America could take on a clear leadership role for HFC-free refrigeration, cooling and heating, but also lamented the slow progress made over the last 12 months on crucial issues, such as a better education of the wider public and customer base about the benefits of natural refrigerants, or defining clear training standards for HVAC&R technical personnel. A strong signal from the more than 100 different organisations present was sent by the high attendance rate of senior level representatives directly involved in business decisions regarding the creation and expansion of product lines for CO₂, hydrocarbons or ammonia.

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