Revision of the F-Gas Regulation: a European agreement has been reached. What will be the solutions of the future?

Regulation

Revision of the F-Gas Regulation: a European agreement has been reached.
What will be the solutions of the future?

On 17 December 2013, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the ENVI Committee reached a compromise on the text revising the F-Gas Regulation. The draft text will be put to the vote in the first quarter of 2014. Should the Parliament and the Council ratify the text, the main results will be as follows.

F-Gas should enter into force on 1 January 2015!

This text relating to fluorinated gases proposes a certain number of future measures for refrigeration, air conditioning, heating and renewable-energy professionals. In particular, it provides for a "phasing-down" of the CO2 equivalent of HFCs*, through a reduction in the quantities of HFCs sold on the European market from 2015, taking into account global warming potential (GWP), with a view to attaining a significant reduction of 79% by 2030.

In effect, this means that you will be able to continue to use HFCs, but their availability will be reduced over the coming years and their use will also be subject to the following restrictions in commercial and industrial refrigeration:

- From 1 January 2020, it will be prohibited to use HFCs with a GWP ≥ 2500 in new fixed refrigeration systems (e.g. R-404A or R-507) unless the operating temperature is less than -50°C.