Sorption is used for absorption/adsorption heat pumps (sorption refrigeration) and sorption for thermal energy storage (TES). This paper is the first review where the research on both applications is shown together. Sorption has advanced very much due to the immense amount of research carried out around heat pumping and solar refrigeration. Moreover, sorption and thermochemical heat storage attracted considerable attention recently since this technology offers various opportunities in the design of renewable and sustainable energy systems. The paper presents the operation principle of the technology and the materials used or in research are listed and compared. Absorption heat pumping and refrigeration research is today more focussed in the decrease of unit costs and increase of energy efficiency, adsorption is focussed in finding more efficient working pairs, and storage is testing the first prototypes and designing new ones with different or enhanced storage materials and new reactor concepts to optimize energy output. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.