Excitement mounts around the world for WRD 2022

May 27, 2022

This year’s campaign is expected to see the largest contribution of physical and online events yet in order to celebrate the sector’s work and show ‘Cooling Matters’.

With still around a month to go until this year’s World Refrigeration Day on June 26th, the level of interest suggests that this will be the mostly widely celebrated occasion yet, according to founder Steve Gill.

He said: “I am amazed to report that we are currently receiving 400-700 emails a day from people with their plans to mark the day.”

Mr Gill noted that the inaugural WRD in June 2019 saw close to 1,000 physical events taking place in over 153 countries around the world. However, in 2020, the world was a very different place, with most countries in the grips of lockdown restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic. Most activity that year took place online in the form of webinars.

By June 2021 the enthusiasm for online events was such that the WRD celebrations had to be extended across a two-week period, successfully staggering the events across time zones and continents.

Now that the restrictions have eased in many countries, the indications are that 2022 will see a mix of both physical and online events and will constitute the largest celebration yet of refrigeration and its impact, according to the event founder.

Mr Gill said: “Not only has the day become set firmly in our industry’s calendar, and the uncertainties around the pandemic have lifted for many, but the events landscape has changed, so that both physical and virtual events can coexist comfortably together and even complement each other. Also—and this is perhaps the greatest change—it is clear that the cooling industry is embracing the idea of WRD being an awareness day aimed at an audience ‘outside’ our usual internal comfort zone.”

Mr Gill said he was seeing a growing number of organisation reaching out to schools, and the public in many different ways that back in 2019 wouldn’t have been the norm.

He cited the recently announced collaboration between UNEP, Chefs4thePlanet and the Global Food Cold Chain Council as a high-profile example of the different initiatives intended to get people thinking differently about cooling.

Mr Gill asked anyone planning a World Refrigeration Day event to share details with him to promote the overall global scope of the latest campaign. He can be contacted at: (steve@worldrefrigerationday.org)

Mr Gill added, “With people taking part from Malawi to Cuba and from Mauritania to Chile this year, it shows how the global community is united by the simple, yet connecting theme of Cooling Matters. It means something to everyone and on 26 June, I believe it will mean much more to the wider public too.”