As leaders from business, politics and academia gather for the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos (20-23 January), 2016 is expected to see several legislative developments relevant to natural refrigerants. Montreal Protocol discussions on a possible HFC phase-down will take centre stage internationally. In the US, California is expected to finalise its strategy to reduce emissions of HFCs, while other parts of the world will continue to look into measures to limit the use of these substances. Although significant progress towards tackling HFC emissions at international level was made during 2015, the most crucial discussions on the details of an agreement that would gradually reduce consumption and production of these gases in both developed and developing countries is still to take place this year. Several Montreal Protocol meetings are planned within the next 12 months, with the first one taking place in April. Hopes are high that a deal will be reached to amend the Protocol to phase down HFCs at a key Meeting of the Parties in November.
Meanwhile, an annual assessment published by the World Economic Forum ahead of this week's gathering identified climate change as the world's biggest economic risk.
Failure to mitigate and adapt to climate change was cited as the risk with the greatest potential impact in 2016 in the survey of nearly 750 experts, who assessed 29 separate global dangers for both impact and likelihood over the next decade.
Naturals poised to take place of HFCs
Glenn Gallagher, an air pollution specialist atthe California Air Resources Board (CARB), believes a global consensus on phasing down HFCs can be reached in 2016. “We expect an international agreementon the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is likely this year, through amendments to the existing Montreal Protocol that has worked so well to reduce the production – and therefore, the emission – of ozone-depleting substances.As the production of HFCs is phased down, natural refrigerants and lower-global warming potential synthetic refrigerants will have to take the place of HFCs.”
As countries prepare for major new international developments, they are not remaining idle at national level, but are seeking rather to advance their national policies in anticipation of global changes.
2016 'year of delivery' on EU energy policy
Maros Sefcovic, a European Commission vice-president responsible for the Energy Union, declares that “2016 will be a year of delivery” on EU energy policy. Several key legislative dossiers are upfor review this year, including targets for energy efficiency and renewable energy beyond 2020, as well as energy performance of buildings. Early thisyear, the Commission plans to unveil a Heating and Cooling Strategy that will outline the framework for updating relevant EU legislation and possibly trigger new directives.
The implementation of the EU F-Gas Regulation is underway following its entry into force at the beginning of last year. As of 2016, the HFC phase-down mechanism requires reducing HFCs placed on the EU market by 7%.
A report from the European Environment Agency (EEA), published in December revealed a 90% increase of bulk imports of fluorinated gases between 2013-2014 compared to the previous 12 months as companies sought to stock pile HFCs before the HFC phase-down takes effect.Given that HFCs contained in pre-charged equipment will be included in the phase-down as of 2017, companies are expected to intensify their efforts to move away from f-gases in these technologies during 2016.
Besides the EU F-Gas Regulation, the long-awaited Eco-design Regulation for commercial refrigeration should be finalised this year, setting EU-wide mandatory minimum efficiency requirements for the technology for the first time. This regulation has been long awaited by the refrigeration industry, points out Marek Zgliczynski from Embraco: “The EU Eco-design Regulation is in delay for the commercial refrigeration sector. It is a very important piece of legislation still missing, considering the importance of indirect emissions.”
Meanwhile, under EU legislation governing mobile air-conditioning systems (the so-called MAC Directive), the use of fluorinatedgreenhouse gases with a GWP higher than 150 in all new vehicles put on the EU market will be totally banned from 1 January 2017. New vehicles with MAC systems usingthese gases will not be registered, sold, or able to enter into service in the EU.
Global_Risks_2015_Report15.pdf Technical report_ Summury of data reported by companies on the production import and export of fluorinated greenhouse gases in EU.pdf
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