Swapping fridges that emit F-gases for carbon equivalents will help Sainsbury's cut its overall carbon emissions, reports Envido.

Sainsbury's has announced a seemingly counter intuitive strategy to cut the amount of carbon emitted from its refrigerators - by switching them to use carbon dioxide.

Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King announced that the leading retailer plans to reduce its carbon footprint by around a third by changing fridges that currently run on F-gases to run devices that use carbon dioxide instead.

Sainsbury's have stated that the new fridges are more energy efficient, which cuts down on the carbon emissions that result from the electricity required to run them. The retailer plans to switch to carbon dioxide fridges in all of its stores by 2030, with the first 135 stores set to be converted by 2014.

Russell Lerman, co-Managing Director of Envido said that “Sainsbury’s are showing true leadership in this move to cut their carbon emissions in this way. Fridges are by far the biggest source of carbon emissions in any supermarket. Other organisations and governments could learn from the initiative that Sainsbury’s are showing”.

Tesco also announced in January that its new stores in the UK would be up to 70 per cent more efficient than previous stores. The reduction in carbon would be a result of skylights letting in more daylight, a natural ventilation system that cuts the need for heating and air conditioning, a store-wide energy and water management system for tracking usage patterns, and a natural refrigeration system that relies on carbon dioxide rather than HFCs.