Industry Roundtable CO2 Condensing Units Are Gaining Traction in North America
There were 5,120 supermarkets with transcritical CO2 (R744) refrigeration systems in North America (Canada and the United States) in 2025. While that’s just 6% of all supermarkets in North America, CO2 refrigeration has been growing rapidly in the sector, with installations jumping roughly 75% from 2023 to 2025.
All of this growth has been driven almost entirely by racks, and the absence of CO2 condensing units (CDUs) is conspicuous given their widespread use in Europe and Japan. In 2025 there were approximately 18,000 food retail stores in Europe and 14,350 in Japan using CO2 CDUs. A further 580 industrial sites in Japan were also using the technology.
CO2 CDUs have yet to establish themselves in North America, but that appears to be changing. Several North American manufacturers have either added CO2 CDUs to their product lines or begun the UL certification process for overseas models.
