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  1. 15th IEA HPC Vienna 26–29 May: 800+ attendees, 367 scientific contributions
  2. EHPA GA 27 May: Patrick Crombez re-elected president; five Rittinger Award recipients
  3. FAS 2026/550: household refrigerator & road/tunnel LED label rules effective 1 Jun 2026
  4. US EPA AIM Act TTR revision (26 May): relaxed supermarket/IPR GWP limits; legacy AC/HP install allowed
  5. Singapore NEA (28 May): supermarket GWP ≤150 from Jul 2027; end-of-life refrigerant handling rules
Policy

Policy & Regulation

  • China’s FAS 2026/550 energy-efficiency labelling rules for household refrigerators (GB 12021.2—2025) and road/tunnel LED lighting (GB 37478-2019) took effect on 1 Jun 2026, with a two-year transitional window for goods manufactured or imported before that date (labels may be applied until 1 Jun 2028). Refrigerator Grade-1 thresholds are materially tighter under the revised standard—firms should complete relabelling, testing, and channel inventory plans and file on energylabel.com.cn; other product groups in the 2026 catalogue roll out on staggered dates through Sep 2027.
  • On 26 May 2026 the US EPA finalised revisions to the AIM Act Technology Transitions Rule (TTR): supermarket and retail-food remote condensing units may use refrigerants up to GWP 1,400 until 1 Jan 2032 (previously 150/300); certain industrial-process-refrigeration chillers and semiconductor IPR equipment compliance moves to 1 Jan 2030; and the installation deadline for residential/light-commercial AC/HP systems manufactured or imported before 1 Jan 2025 using higher-GWP refrigerants is removed—allowing stranded legacy inventory to be installed. The rule is effective 27 Jul 2026; EPA also proposed exempting transport refrigeration units from leak-repair requirements.
  • Singapore’s NEA announced on 28 May 2026 stricter refrigerant standards from 1 Jul 2027: supermarket refrigeration must use GWP ≤150; new passenger cars and light goods vehicles must meet the same GWP cap from 1 Jul 2028. From Jul 2027, firms dismantling commercial refrigeration, cold rooms, vehicle AC, or refrigerated trucks must register with NEA and follow approved end-of-life refrigerant handling—building on 2022 household and large-building measures.
Markets

Market & Industry

  • The 15th IEA Heat Pump Conference (26–29 May 2026, Hofburg Vienna) drew 800+ participants from academia, industry, and policy; 367 scientific contributions were presented under the theme “Decarbonisation through Innovation”. IEA Deputy Executive Director Mary Burce Warlick stressed heat pumps’ role in energy security and affordability—Europe’s installed heat-pump stock already displaces gas demand comparable to the EU’s largest LNG terminal. UNIDO’s Riccardo Savigliano and IIR Director General Yosr Allouche framed industrial decarbonisation and global cooling/heating transitions; site visits included AIT, Vaillant (Senica), ECOP, Takeda, and Vienna municipal projects.
  • At the EHPA General Assembly on 27 May in Vienna, Patrick Crombez (Daikin Europe Environmental Research Centre) was re-elected president for a second two-year term, calling for electricity tax relief, steady support schemes, flexible consumer tariffs, and wider industrial heat-pump uptake. Five leaders received the Peter Ritter von Rittinger Award: Graeme Maidment (London South Bank University), Thomas Nowak (Qvantum International), Björn Palm, Choyu Watanabe (Zeneral Heatpump Industry/Nagoya University), and Renato Lazzarin (University of Padua)—recognising decades of international collaboration in research, policy, and market development.
Standards

Standards & Compliance

  • With FAS 2026/550 now in force for refrigerators, manufacturers must align marketing and tender claims with GB 12021.2—2025 test reports and energylabel.com.cn filings; mixed old/new label stock risks market-supervision disputes. Heat-pump-specific label rules under FAS 2025/45 (chiller, water-source, low-temp air-source, etc.) remain on the 2025-02-01 timeline with relabelling allowed until 2027-02-01 for pre-cutoff inventory—do not conflate the two catalogues.
  • The US EPA TTR revision shifts near-term GWP compliance economics for US supermarket and cold-chain operators while keeping longer-term 150/300 targets from 2032; exporters serving North America should map product lines against both federal AIM Act schedules and state-level rules. Singapore’s GWP ≤150 supermarket requirement from Jul 2027 adds another regional benchmark alongside EU F-Gas and Kigali trajectories.
Tech

Technology & Demonstrations

  • Conference programme spanned 24 themes including high-temperature industrial heat pumps, urban density solutions, grid integration and flexibility, refrigerants, and circular economy—continuing week-21 EHPA digitalisation threads. Keynotes highlighted heat pumps as a 3–6× efficiency multiplier and emerging flexibility resource (“distributed power plants in the making”, per RMI’s Rushad Nanavatty). Japan HPTC’s Mitsunobu Nakajo presented industrial heat-pump case studies; Wien Energie’s Karl Gruber showcased Vienna’s municipal decarbonisation path—see this site’s HTHP column and IIR Technical Brief No. 61 for related industrial routes.
  • Award laureate Choyu Watanabe’s industrial heat-pump leadership and Graeme Maidment’s urban energy-system work underscore the conference’s dual residential–industrial focus; Thomas Nowak’s market-development legacy bridges EHPA policy advocacy with manufacturer government relations—relevant as EU IF25 Heat Auction winners (week 21) move toward implementation.
Dates

Coming up

  • 15th IEA Heat Pump Conference concluded 29 May 2026; proceedings and abstracts remain at hpc2026.org. Next edition rotates to Asia per HPT TCP three-year cycle (post-2026 host TBC).
  • Chillventa 2026 Nuremberg: 13–15 Oct 2026 (exhibition expanded ~15% vs prior edition per organiser messaging). ISH Shanghai & CIHE 2026 remains scheduled for Autumn 2026 at SNIEC. UK IOR announced it will host IIR’s second “Refrigeration: Adapting to Rising Temperatures” conference (Adaptation 2027)—dates TBC on ior.org.uk.