U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 - 11201 Renner Blvd., Lenexa, KS 66219

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

EPA’s GreenChill Program Recognizes Top Supermarket Industry Partners for Outstanding Practices in Protecting the Climate and Ozone Layer

Contact Information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

LENEXA, KAN. (SEPT. 25, 2024) – Today, Sept. 25, in a ceremony at the FMI – The Food Industry Association’s Energy and Store Development Conference, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Program recognized nine supermarket and commercial refrigeration leaders – eight food retail companies and one advanced refrigeration system manufacturer – for exceptional achievements to reduce the impacts of commercial refrigeration systems on the environment in 2023.

“Our GreenChill partners are setting a prime example of what it means to be a corporate leader in sustainability,” said Paul Gunning, Director of EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Protection. “We are proud of our GreenChill partners and recognize their work, whose continued innovation is protecting public health and the environment today and for generations to come.”    

GreenChill Partners go above and beyond regulatory requirements and commit to decreasing their impact on the environment by reducing refrigerant emissions. In reporting year 2024, there were more than 13,500 supermarket stores in the GreenChill Partnership, representing 30% of stores in the United States, and over 900 GreenChill certified supermarket stores throughout the nation, a 10% increase from 2023 reporting year. On average, GreenChill food retailers have emissions rates approximately 11% lower than the industry average of 25%. 

The EPA thanks all participants in the Partnership and Store Certification Programs for being industry leaders in environmentally friendly refrigeration practices. 

This year, EPA is proud to recognize the following GreenChill Partner companies:

Best Corporate Emissions Rate

• City Market, Onion River Co-op (Burlington, Vermont)
• Meijer (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

Most Improved Emissions Rate

• BriarPatch Food Co-op (Auburn and Grass Valley, California)
• Brookshire Grocery Company (Tyler, Texas)

Exceptional Goal Achievement

• Hy-Vee (Sycamore, Illinois)
• K-VA-T Food Stores/Food City (Abingdon, Virginia)

GreenChill’s Store Certification Program recognized stores for meeting strict performance criteria including refrigeration systems with minimal potential impacts on the ozone layer and climate system. This year’s GreenChill Store Certification recognitions honor:

Store Leadership

• Target (San Antonio, Texas) completed a remodel that utilized efficient cooling technology to achieve an energy saving system in a warmer climate by installing a transcritical carbon dioxide system and an adiabatic gas cooler.

Store Certification Excellence 

• ALDI (Batavia, Illinois) earned recognition for leading its peers in certifying more stores than any supermarket chain had previously, with all 611 stores reaching the highest Platinum-Level Certification.
• Hillphoenix (Conyers, Georgia) achieved this recognition for the 12th consecutive year as the commercial systems manufacturer with the most systems installed in GreenChill Certified Stores in the last year. 

Store Recertification Excellence

• ALDI – For the fifth consecutive year, ALDI achieved GreenChill Store Certification for 164 locations across Alabama, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
• Target – For the fifth consecutive year, Target achieved GreenChill Store Certification in 10 stores across California, Florida, New York, South Carolina and Washington.

About GreenChill

GreenChill is a voluntary partnership program that works cooperatively with the food retail industry to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the environment. Leaky systems can come at a high price, requiring retailers to pay for replacement refrigerant, system maintenance, and repairs. Reducing leaks is also beneficial to the environment, as some refrigerants deplete the stratospheric ozone layer and are potent greenhouse gases. In addition to reducing leaks, GreenChill participants are leaders transitioning to environmentally friendlier refrigerants and adopting advanced refrigeration technologies.   

Since GreenChill launched in 2007, many food retailers have joined the Corporate Emissions Reduction Program (the Partnership) with the number of stores nearly tripling from 4,500 to over 13,500 today. The Partnership represents more than one-third of the U.S. food retail industry. On average, GreenChill Partners maintain corporate-wide emissions rates that are approximately half the industry average. 

Participation in GreenChill’s Store Certification Program for food retailers also continues to grow. In reporting year 2024 (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024), there were over 956 certified stores (798 Platinum, 74 Gold, and 84 Silver) across 44 states and the District of Columbia. Since it began in 2008, the GreenChill Store Certification Program has issued more than 5,200 annual certifications to over 1,400 individual stores. 

Learn more about GreenChill and today’s recognition recipients.

# # #

Learn more about EPA Region 7