REFRIGERANTS


What’s your refrigerant strategy?


This report from Climalife explains why it’s time to make your move. The EU


legislation has recognised this defi ciency and has stipulated that


training and certifi cation is also


mandatory when


handling non-F-Gas refrigerants.


I


n the RACHP industry the legislative landscape for refrigerants has been changing on a regular basis since the adoption of the Vienna Convention for the protection of the


ozone layer in 1988, and the introduction of the fi rst regulation to control the use of chlorofl uorocarbons (CFCs) in 1991. So why is the current round of legislative update causing a degree of concern and confusion? For the fi rst time since refrigerant legislation was introduced, Great Britain (GB) will have diff erent legislation to the European Union (EU). Even more confusing, due to the complexities of the Brexit agreement, Northern Ireland (NI) will have to follow the EU legislation. Whilst the EU has already drafted, agreed and implemented the next iteration of F-Gas legislation, all of us in GB are still waiting to see the draft proposal that will govern the decisions on how our industry will have to operate in the future. There is already one certainty, the GB legislation will be


diff erent to the EU legislation. How can we be so certain? Under the EU regulation 2024/573,


from 1st January 2025 there is a reduction (in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents) of the quantity of HFCs that can be placed on the market (often referred to as ‘the quota’), a new category of equipment is defi ned as ‘self-contained’ and there are restrictions for new equipment that limit the refrigerant GWP to <150 in stationary refrigeration self-contained systems. Since there is no new legislation in GB, none of these measures will be introduced as GB is still following the EU 517/2014 retained legislation.


When there appears to be a lack of clarity it’s all too easy to kick the proverbial can down the road, however there is information available which does take away some of the guess work and should put you on the track of a sustainable future.


HFC quota reduction There is no reduction in GB quota in 2025. At least in theory,


this means that within GB the same quantity of the same refrigerants that were available in 2024 should be available in 2025, but don’t let this lull you into a false sense of security. GB is still following a HFC phasedown, and this will eventually lead to a restriction in the availability of virgin high GWP (>1000) products, probably before the end of the useful lifetime of any new equipment installed today. Choosing a low GWP refrigerant option today would be a very wise decision and avoid the need to rely on uncertain future supplies of reclaimed refrigerant. GB has already agreed to an extended HFC phasedown, in addition to continuing to follow the EU 517/2014, the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol became UK law in 2019 and extends the phasedown to 2036. A report published in December 2022 by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Aff airs (Defra) predicted that without a proactive move to low GWP refrigerants, the demand for refrigerants in GB is likely to exceed the quota allowance by the year 2027 (Figure 1), which could lead to availability issues for higher GWP refrigerants (>1000). Choosing a <1000 GWP refrigerant today would avoid any potential supply issues that may occur in the near future. Will GB follow the EU HFC phase-out? At this point it’s diffi cult


to know but there have been several comments attributed to Defra offi cials stating that the Kigali amendment is seen as an ambitious phasedown, so it’s very possible that GB will follow its own HFC phasedown.


Placing on the market prohibitions In the main, placing on the market prohibitions aff ect new


Fig 1: Possible phasedown scenarios from December 2022 Defra assessment report 14 January 2025 • www.acr-news.com


equipment that is manufactured in or imported into GB. 1st January 2025 saw the last of the EU 517/2014 prohibitions introduced (<3kg split air conditioning (AC) must use <750 GWP) but the EU regulation has many new restrictions covering stationary refrigeration, split AC and heat pumps (HP), self- contained AC/HP and chillers. The fi rst of these come into eff ect in the EU on 1 January 2025 but they do not apply to GB unless a manufacturer is exporting to the EU or NI, in which case the equipment will have to be EU compliant. As with the phasedown, there is no confi rmed information on


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