F-gas update January 2025
The European fluorinated greenhouse gases regulation (F-gas regulation) was updated just over a year ago[1]. This update includes some significant changes, including prohibiting of certain refrigerants from 1 January 2025. Specifically, the following prohibitions are in force:
- Self-contained refrigeration equipment (except chillers) is not allowed to be operated using a fluorinated refrigerant with a global warming potential (GWP) of >150. Derogations (or exemptions) were applied for certain products by the EU (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202500033) on 13 January 2025. Products included are listed in the table below.
- Refrigeration equipment (except chillers, self-contained refrigeration equipment and multipack centralised refrigeration systems for commercial use) except equipment intended for application designed to cool products to temperatures below – 50°C, must be operated using a refrigerant with a GWP of <2,500.
- Split air-conditioning equipment and heat pumps with <3 kg of fluorinated greenhouse gases whose functioning relies upon fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annex 1 (details contained in 1) with a GWP >=750.
- Some other products such as fire protection equipment, personal care products and equipment for skin cooling are banned from using fluorinated greenhouse gases.
Extending some of the previous prohibitions on HFCs above a GWP of 150 to all fluorinated greenhouse gases is also applicable for self-contained commercial refrigerators and freezers.
Some further significant prohibitions are scheduled to come into force over the next 10 years (see table below).
Recent and future prohibitions on refrigerants (January 2025 prohibitions and derogation highlighted):
|
Products and equipment |
Date of prohibition |
|
|
STATIONARY REFRIGERATION |
||
|
(2) Domestic refrigerators and freezers: |
that contain fluorinated greenhouse gases, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2026 |
|
(3) Refrigerators and freezers for commercial use (self-contained equipment) |
that contain other (non HFC) fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 150 or more. |
1 January 2025 |
|
(4) Any self-contained refrigeration equipment, except chillers, that contains fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2025 |
|
|
A derogation (or exemption) was applied on 13 January 2025 that states: the placing on the market of the following types of self-contained refrigeration equipment containing fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 150 or more is authorised from 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2026, provided they are properly labelled: (a) blast cabinets with a full load capacity from 25 kg to 100 kg of foodstuff; (b) artisanal gelato ice cream makers with a cooling capacity higher than 2 kW; (c) ice makers with an ice production capacity from 200 kg to 2 000 kg per 24 hours; (d) trolleys for preserving and regenerating food with rated power input from 1.5 kW to 10.5 kW; (e) retarder prover cabinets with an absorbed power from 1 kW to 2 kW; (f) frozen drinks dispensers and cold cream dispensers with a chilled full load capacity greater than 3 litres. |
30 June 2026 |
|
|
(5) Refrigeration equipment, except chillers and equipment covered in points (4) and (6[2]), that contains, or whose functioning relies upon |
fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 2,500 or more, except equipment intended for application designed to cool products to temperatures below – 50°C. |
1 January 2025 |
|
fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2030 |
|
|
(7) Chillers that contain, or whose functioning relies upon |
fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 150 GWP or more for chillers up to and including a rated capacity of 12 kW, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2027 |
|
fluorinated greenhouse gases for chillers up to and including a rated capacity of 12 kW, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2032 |
|
|
fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 750 for chillers above 12 kW, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2027 |
|
|
STATIONARY AIR-CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT AND STATIONARY HEAT PUMPS |
||
|
(8) Self-contained air-conditioning equipment and heat pumps, except chillers, that |
plug-in room air-conditioning equipment, monoblock air-conditioning equipment, other self-contained air-conditioning equipment and self-contained heat pumps, with a maximum rated capacity of up to and including 12 kW that contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except if required to meet safety requirements. If safety requirements at the site of operation would not allow using fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWP of less than 150, the GWP limit is 750. |
1 January 2027 |
|
plug-in room air-conditioning equipment, monoblock air-conditioning equipment, other self-contained air-conditioning equipment and self-contained heat pumps, with a maximum rated capacity of up to and including 12 kW that contain fluorinated greenhouse gases, except if required to meet safety requirements. If safety requirements at the site of operation would not allow using alternatives to fluorinated greenhouse gases, the GWP limit is 750. |
1 January 2032 |
|
|
monoblock and other self-contained air-conditioning equipment and heat pumps, with a maximum rated capacity of more than 12 kW but not exceeding 50 kW that contains fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 150 or more, except if required to meet safety requirements. If safety requirements at the site of operation would not allow using fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWP of less than 150, the GWP limit is 750. |
1 January 2027 |
|
|
other self-contained air-conditioning equipment and heat pumps that contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWP of 150 or more, except if required to meet safety requirements. If safety requirements at the site of operation would not allow using fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWP of less than 150, the GWP limit is 750. |
1 January 2030 |
|
|
(9) Split air-conditioning equipment and heat pumps |
Single split systems, containing less than 3 kg of fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annex I (available in regulation that can be downloaded from: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/573/oj), that contain, or whose functioning relies upon, fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annex I with GWP of 750 or more |
1 January 2025 |
|
Split air-to-water systems of a rated capacity up to and including 12 kW containing, or whose functioning relies upon, fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWP of 150 or more, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2027 |
|
|
Split air-to-air systems of a rated capacity up to and including 12 kW containing, or whose functioning relies upon, fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWP of 150 or more, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2029 |
|
|
Split systems of a rated capacity up to and including 12 kW containing, or whose functioning relies upon, fluorinated greenhouse gases, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2035 |
|
|
Split systems of a rated capacity of more than 12 kW containing, or whose functioning relies upon, fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWP of 750 or more, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2029 |
|
|
Split systems of a rated capacity of more than 12 kW containing, or whose functioning relies upon, fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWP of 150 or more, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2033 |
|
|
OTHER PRODUCTS AND EQUIPMENT |
||
|
(11) Fire protection equipment |
that contain or rely on other fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annex I, except when required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2025 |
|
(17) Foams |
Foams that contain fluorinated greenhouse gases, except if required to meet safety requirements. |
1 January 2033 |
|
(19) Technical aerosols |
that contain fluorinated greenhouse gases, except if required to meet safety requirements or when used for medical applications. |
1 January 2030 |
|
(20) Personal care products (e.g. mousse, creams, foams, liquids or sprays) that contain fluorinated greenhouse gases. |
1 January 2025 |
|
|
(21) Equipment used for cooling the skin that contain, or whose functioning relies upon, fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWP of 150 or more except if used for medical applications. |
1 January 2025 |
|
Typical refrigerants affected by the prohibition with a GWP between 150 and 2500:
|
Refrigerant |
GWP (100 year horizon, IPCC) |
|
R-245fa |
1,030 |
|
R-134a |
1,430 |
|
R-407C |
1,774 |
|
R-407F |
1,824 |
|
R-410A |
2,088 |
|
R407A |
2,107 |
|
R452A |
2,140 |
The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is responsible for any revision of the current UK regulation (The Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021). Defra has been consulting on changes to the UK regulation which are independent of the EU process. It is unlikely that any changes to UK legislation will be introduced before 2026, but it seems likely that there will be at least some future alignment with EU regulation.
The UK regulation includes one product where changes were applied on 1 January 2025. This is for single split air-conditioning systems containing less than 3 kg of fluorinated greenhouse gases where the GWP of the refrigerant applied must be <750. This is the same in the new EU regulation as it was always part of the previous EU regulation.
If you would like to know more about compliance with the F-gas regulations and how RD&T could help you convert refrigeration systems to a lower GWP refrigerant then please contact Alan Foster (alan.foster@rdandt.co.uk) at RD&T.
[1] Regulation (EU) 2024/573 of The European Parliament and of the Council of 7 February 2024 on fluorinated greenhouse gases, amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 517/2014
[2] Clause 6 covers: Multipack centralised refrigeration systems for commercial use with a rated capacity of 40
kW or more that contain, or whose functioning relies upon, fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annex I with GWP of 150 or more, except in the primary refrigerant circuit of cascade systems where fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of less than 1 500 may be used. Applied from 1 January 2022.