Month: March 2026

If you manage refrigeration in California, the biggest trend impacting your operations right now might not be a new piece of equipment. You’re likely focused on regulatory change around refrigerants and the ripple effects that follow: What you are allowed to install, what refrigerants will be easiest to source, and what it will cost to keep existing systems reliable over the next several years.

On January 1, 2026, the U.S. EPA’s AIM Act “Technology Transitions” rules tightened which higher-GWP HFC refrigerants can be used in new equipment in several commercial refrigeration categories. In California, those federal requirements layer on top of state-level efforts that have already been pushing the market away from certain high-GWP refrigerants (including restrictions on bulk virgin refrigerant sales for some products).

Even if your plan is “no new installs,” these changes still affect you immediately, because the first thing that changes is the customer conversations and leads times.