CCAC welcomes moves by Obama Administration for public and private efforts to reduce HFCs

by CCAC Secretariat - 16 October, 2015
Paris, October 16, 2015

Obama administration announced yesterday a suite of public and private measures designed to cut the consumption of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by the equivalent of 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) through 2025. HFCs, while short-lived in the atmosphere are a potent greenhouse gas with a warming potential 10,000 times that of CO2. The announcement included new commitments from 12 private sector companies to reduce HFCs and transition toward products with low Global Warming Potential (GWP) by 2025. 

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) has been working to promote alternatives to HFCs with a large number of partners. The head of the secretariat, Helena Molin Valdés, commended the efforts of the United States government and American businesses to regulate HFCs and reduce their use in their supply chains and products, saying that actions on these and other short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) was important if we are to limit warming to 2°C.

The United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new rules to reduce HFCs. It proposed a rule that would improve the way refrigerant is sold, handled, recovered, and recycled. The proposal would strengthen the existing requirements for handling refrigerants and apply those rules to ozone-depleting and HFC refrigerants. It also intends to initiate a proposed rulemaking in 2016 under EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy Program in 2016 that would change the status for certain high global warming potential HFCs to unacceptable where safer alternatives are available and also approve several new climate-friendly alternatives for a variety of industry applications.

Multiple air-conditioner at the backside of a street in singapore-cmyk.jpg
Air conditioners cover buildings in Singapore.

The US Department of Defense also announced a range of measures to reduce HFCs including installing low-GWP transcritical CO2 refrigeration systems at three U.S. commissaries in 2016 and strengthening existing collaborations and creating mechanisms to build new military-to-military and industry partnerships to share information and lessons-learned on emissions reductions and lower-GWP alternatives.

Two reports on HFCs were also released that estimate the US and global benefits of an HFC phase down. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report estimated that a modest 30% improvement in room air conditioners energy efficiency along with low-GWP refrigerants would avoid the equivalent of up to an additional 100 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050, while also saving money for consumers. While the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s report noted that available alternatives to HFCs performed as well as or better in the hottest climates.