Details emerge of proposed new F-gas rules
5th October 2023
EUROPE: Further unconfirmed details have emerged of the contents of the provisional F-gas revision agreement reached between the EU Council and Parliament today.
According to information from the European Council, the consumption of HFCs will be completely phased out by 2050 and the production of HFCs, in terms of production rights granted by the Commission, will be phased out to a minimum (15%) from 2036. The agreement is also said to provide for a higher quota allocation for the first two periods than in the Commission’s original proposal.
It is said that a limited number of additional heat pump quotas may be allocated if, due to the bans, not enough heat pumps are installed to meet the REPowerEU target.
New equipment product bans
In terms of the product bans in new equipment, these are the proposals as far as we believe them to be. We may not know for a week or so the full and actual content.
It should be noted that unless referred to otherwise, references to fluorinated greenhouse gases or F-gases means HFCs and HFOs.
Self-contained air conditioning and heat pump equipment
1 January 2027
Plug-in room, monobloc air conditioning and other self-contained heat pump equipment, with a maximum rated capacity of up to and including 12kW that contain F-gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except when required to meet safety requirements.
When safety requirements at the site of installation would not allow using alternatives to F-gases with a GWP of 150 or less, the GWP limit is 750.
1 January 2032
Plug-in room, monobloc air conditioning and other self-contained heat pump equipment, with a maximum rated capacity of up to including 12kW that contain F-gases, except when required to meet safety requirements.
When safety requirements at the site of installation would not allow using alternatives to F-gases, the GWP limit is 750.
1 January 2027
Monobloc and other self-contained air-conditioning and heat pump equipment, with a maximum rated capacity of larger than 12kW but not exceeding 50kW that contain F-gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except when required to meet safety requirements.
When safety requirements at the site of installation would not allow using alternatives to F-gases with GWP of 150 or less, the GWP limit is 750.
1 January 2030
Other self-contained air conditioning and heat pump equipment that contain F-gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except when required to meet safety requirements.
When safety requirements would not allow using F-gases with GWP of 150 or less, the GWP limit is 750.
Split air conditioning and heat pump equipment
1 January 2025
Single split systems, containing less than 3kg of F-gases listed in Annex I, that contain, or whose functioning relies upon, F-gases listed in Annex I with GWP of 750 or more
1 January 2027
Split air-to-water systems of a rated capacity up to and including 12kW containing, or whose functioning relies upon, F-gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except when required to meet safety requirements.
1 January 2029
Split air-to-air systems of a rated capacity up to and including 12kW containing, or whose functioning relies upon, F-gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except when required to meet safety requirements.
1 January 2035
Split systems of a rated capacity up to and including 12kW, containing, or whose functioning relies upon, fluorinated greenhouse gases, except when required to meet safety requirements.
1 January 2029
Split systems of a rated capacity of more than 12kW containing, or whose functioning relies upon, F-gases with GWP of 750 or more, except when required to meet safety requirements.
1 January 2033
Split systems of a rated capacity of more than 12kW containing, or whose functioning relies upon, F-gases with GWP of 150 or more, except when required to meet safety requirements.
Stationary Refrigeration
While the use of HFCs with GWP of 150 or more in domestic refrigerators and freezers have been banned since 1 January 2015, the new rules add:
1 January 2026
Domestic refrigerators and freezers that contain F-gases, except when required to meet safety
requirements.
Similarly, while HFCs with a GWP of 150 or more have been banned in commercial refrigerators and freezers (self-contained equipment) since 1 January 2022, the new rule extends that to all F-gases:
1 January 2025
Refrigerators and freezers for commercial use (self-contained equipment) that contain other F-gases with a GWP of 150 or more.
1 January 2025
Any self-contained refrigeration equipment, except chillers, that contains fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except when required to meet safety requirements
For refrigeration equipment, except chillers and equipment covered in the self-contained refrigeration equipment ban (above) and the restrictions on multipack centralised refrigeration systems with a rated capacity of 40kW that came into force on 1 January 2022, the new rules add:
1 January 2025
A ban on new equipment using F-gases gases with a GWP of 2500 or more, except equipment intended for application designed to cool products to temperatures below -50°C.
1 January 2030
A ban on new equipment using F-gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except when required to meet safety requirements.
Chillers
For chillers, the new bans are:
1 January 2027
A ban on the use of F-gases with a GWP of 150 GWP or more for chillers up to and including a rated capacity of 12kW, except when required to meet safety requirements.
1 January 2032
A total ban on F-gases in new chillers up to and including a rated capacity of 12kW, except when required to meet safety requirements.
1 January 2027
A ban on F-gases with a GWP of 750 for new chillers above 12kW, except when required to meet safety requirements.
Maintenance
The preliminary agreement provides for a ban on certain equipment necessary to repair and maintain existing equipment. From 2025, maintenance equipment for refrigeration equipment using F-gases with a high global warming potential will be prohibited unless the gases are reclaimed or recycled, in which case they will benefit from a derogation until 2030.
A similar ban will be introduced for maintenance equipment for air conditioning and heat pump equipment before 2026, with a derogation for reclaimed or recycled gases until 2032. In 2032, a maintenance ban will be applied to stationary refrigeration equipment designed to cool products to temperatures below -50 °C by using F-gases with lower global warming potential, with a permanent derogation when recycled or regenerated gases are used.
The text sets the price for HFC quota allocation at €3. Part of the revenue will be used to cover the administrative costs of implementing the F-gas regulation, and the rest will go to the general EU budget.
The text includes a mandatory extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme from 1 January 2028 for F-gases in products and equipment falling within the categories of electrical and electronic equipment covered by Directive 2012/19/EU (on waste electrical and electronic equipment).
The provisional agreement also requires Member States to ensure “effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions” for regulatory breaches. The sanctions should include at least fines, confiscation of products, temporary exclusion of products from public procurement contracts and temporary trade bans. The sanctions must be compatible with the Environmental Crime Directive and national legal systems. If Member States decide to set thresholds in this context, they should be above a fixed minimum.
Ozone depleting substances
The preliminary agreement confirmed that ODSs are prohibited in almost all cases, with only strictly limited exemptions. The text contains an exemption for the use of ODSs as raw materials for the production of other substances.
Both agreements will now be submitted for approval to the representatives of the Member States in the Council (Coreper) and the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment. If approved, the text will need to be formally adopted by both institutions before it can be published in the Official Journal of the EU and enter into force.
