New F-gas revision
On 16 January the European Parliament approved the revision of the F-gas regulation that has been under consideration and review for some time. The revision was strongly supported by the Parliament (79% of members voted in favour). The new regulation will still need to be endorsed by the European Council in a vote expected to be at the end of January 2024.
The updated regulation will introduce strict requirements on F-gases, their use and phase out dates, for gases in markets where technically it is feasible to switch to alternatives (in particular domestic refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps). Very few changes have been made since the text published in October 2023 (RD&T Oct Newsletter). This earlier draft set out a schedule to reduce F-gases up to 2049 by prohibiting placing F-gases on the market and prescribing phase out dates based on the global warming potential of the refrigerant.
The full text of the adopted text can be downloaded from: (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/plenary/en/texts-adopted.html). The main requirements for placing on the market and prohibitions for domestic, commercial, air conditioning and heat pump systems are shown in the table below:
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Prohibited products and equipment (upcoming requirements in blue) |
Date of prohibition |
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STATIONARY REFRIGERATION |
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(2) Domestic refrigerators and freezers: |
(a) that contain HFCs with GWP of 150 or more; |
1 January 2015 |
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(b) that contain fluorinated greenhouse gases, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation. |
1 January 2026 |
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(3) Refrigerators and freezers for commercial use (self-contained equipment): |
(a) that contain HFCs with GWP of 2,500 or more; |
1 January 2020 |
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(b) that contain HFCs with GWP of 150 or more; |
1 January 2022 |
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(c) that contain other fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 150 or more. |
1 January 2025 |
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(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 |
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(5) Refrigeration equipment, except chillers and equipment covered in points (4) and (6), that contains, or whose functioning relies upon: |
(a) HFCs with GWP of 2,500 or more except equipment intended for application designed to cool products to temperatures below –50°C; |
1 January 2020 |
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(b) 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 |
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(c) 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 |
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(6) 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. |
1 January 2022 |
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STATIONARY CHILLERS |
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(7) Chillers that contain, or whose functioning relies upon: |
(a) HFCs with GWP of 2,500 or more except equipment intended for application designed to cool products to temperatures below – 50°C; |
1 January 2020 |
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(b) 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 |
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(c) 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 |
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(d) 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 |
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STATIONARY AIR-CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT AND STATIONARY HEAT PUMPS |
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(8) Self-contained air-conditioning equipment and heat pumps, except chillers, that: |
(a) plug-in room air- conditioning equipment which is moveable between rooms by the end user that contains HFCs with GWP of 150 or more; |
1 January 2020 |
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(b) 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 than150, the GWP limit is 750; |
1 January 2027 |
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(c) 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 |
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(d) 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 |
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(e) 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 |
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(9) Split air-conditioning equipment and heat pumps (1For the purpose of this Regulation, fixed double duct heat pump and air-conditioning equipment shall be considered split (category number 9) and be subject to the same requirements.): |
(a) Single split systems, containing less than 3 kg of fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annex I, that contain, or whose functioning relies upon, fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annex I with GWP of 750 or more; |
1 January 2025 |
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(b) 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 |
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(c) 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 |
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(d) 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 |
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(e) 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 |
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(f) 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 |
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In almost all cases refrigerants with a GWP of above 150 will be banned and in some cases the use of fluorinated refrigerants will also ultimately be banned. Most bans come into place between 2025 and 2035. The only equipment ultimately still allowed to use refrigerants with a GWP of above 150 will be large (>12 kW) chillers and non-self-contained equipment that cools products to below –50°C, where a maximum GWP of 750 is prescribed. There is a derogation which allows higher GWP refrigerants ‘if safety requirements at the site of operation would not allow using alternatives to fluorinated greenhouse gases’ but it is not clear how this would be justified or managed.
As we highlighted in our previous newsletter articles, due to the UK no longer being a member of the European Union, the F-gas requirements in the UK could vary from those in Europe. Although the UK Government could change some details of the UK regulation, it is still a fact that trade between the UK and Europe will be a consideration and that companies selling into Europe will have to comply with the new F-gas regulation irrespective of whether they are based in Europe or not.
For most companies these regulations will bring no new surprises. The details have been available for a while and options to use lower GWP refrigerants are feasible. There are some requirements to apply low GWP refrigerants relatively quickly such as the need to apply refrigerants with a GWP of <150 from 1 January 2025 for self-contained refrigeration equipment. Some manufacturers who do not currently comply may therefore need to apply changes to equipment relatively rapidly.
If you are interested in how to transition to lower GWP refrigerants and would like any help or advice, then please contact Judith Evans (j.a.evans@rdandt.co.uk) at RD&T.