AHRI announces industry-wide initiative to evaluate new low-GWP refrigerants

ARLINGTON, Texas, 29 July 2025: AHRI announced the launch of a new industry-wide cooperative research programme aimed at evaluating alternative refrigerants having a GWP of less than 300 for major product categories, such as air conditioners, heat pumps, chillers and heat pump water heaters.

Making the announcement through a Press Release, AHRI said the program, titled ‘The Lower-GWP Alternative Refrigerants Evaluation Program’ (Lower-GWP AREP) is of interest to its members-companies seeking to assess refrigerants that might be appropriate for future HVACR applications, while avoiding duplicative work.

AHRI said this marks the third iteration of its refrigerant research initiatives, following the success of R-22 AREP in the 1990s and AREP-2 in the 2010s, in response to environmental concerns related to high-GWP refrigerants. As with previous efforts, AHRI said, it will provide the leadership to coordinate and manage this industry-driven research and work closely with industry experts from its member companies.

Xudong Wang, Vice President of Research, AHRI, said: “The objective of this program is to help the industry identify and evaluate the most promising refrigerants, as well as to understand the technical challenges of enabling their use. The program will not rank these alternatives but will instead focus on identifying potential replacements for current refrigerants that will allow the industry to meet and comply with future regulatory activities in the United States and abroad.”

AHRI said that to begin the program, it will survey chemical producers to create a list of candidate refrigerants. Those that are selected will undergo comprehensive testing, including compressor calorimeter testing, system drop-in testing – if applicable – and soft-optimised system testing. AHRI said that refrigerant stability and compatibility, with lubricants and other common materials, will also be tested, if necessary. Tests are expected to be performed at participating companies’ laboratories, using their own resources, at their own expense, AHRI added.

According to AHRI, the program will be overseen by a Technical Committee consisting of experts from its members-companies, operating under the AHRI Research and Technology Committee. The Technical Committee, AHRI said, will be responsible for developing detailed test protocols prior to the start of the program, prioritising tasks, if refrigerant samples have limited availability, and ensuring the quality of the results to be published.

AHRI said that once the Technical Committee roster is finalised, an open solicitation will be made to manufacturers in the United States and elsewhere to participate in the testing program. Testing, AHRI added, is expected to begin in January 2026.