(Credit: Pixabay)The EPA has proposed rules to significantly phase down any continued use of hydrofluorocarbons, which are commonly used in cooling systems, to align with international regulations and as a key part of the Biden Administration’s climate objectives, while also advancing domestic sustainable manufacturing.
The proposed rule will call for a reduction of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by 40% based on historic levels beginning in 2024. The rule follows the Senate’s approval in September 2022 to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to phase down HFCs.
HFCs are a class of potent greenhouse gas that are often used in refrigeration, air conditioning, aerosols, and foam products. Their pollution impacts can be hundreds of thousands of times stronger than the same amount of carbon dioxide, the EPA says.
The new proposal also strengthens existing regulations on HFCs. It establishes a methodology for allocating HFC production and consumption allowances beginning in 2024. The proposal also amends the historic consumption baseline level to reflect corrected data submitted to the EPA, the agency says, as well as to specify recordkeeping and reporting requirements.
Under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, which went into effect in 2020, the EPA has established a national HFC phasedown program that intends to reduce the production and consumption of these chemicals by 85% by 2036. Last year the Biden Administration also made other HFC reduction commitments crossing multiple federal agencies that include supporting the development of HFC alternatives, recovering HFCs from old equipment to offset the need for newly manufactured HFCs, and preventing illegal production, use, and sale of HFCs.
The Senate ratified the Kigali Amendment, which was introduced in October 2016 with more than 170 countries agreeing to the modification. It aims to reduce HFC consumption by 80% by 2047 and the United Nations says the impact of those reductions will avoid a worldwide temperature increase of 0.5 degrees Celsius.
The Biden Administration, which has significant sustainability targets such as cutting emissions by at least half by 2030, estimates the ratification will help the US increase the production of sustainable alternatives to HFCs. That will lead to increased exports of products like refrigerators and air conditioners, which the administration says will help create an annual $12.5 billion economic boost, according to the administration.
The US has a history of taking on HFCs. In 2011, the EPA approved three alternative refrigerants to HFCs in commercial and residential freezers under the Significant New Alternatives Policy program.
Since the beginning of 2021, US companies have needed allowances for producing or importing HFCs. The EPA says through September enforcement of the rules has prevented illegal HFC shipments equivalent to more than 889,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The EPA has already issued the allowances for 2023, which are at the same level as 2022. The agency says the number of allowances distributed increased slightly but that it has notified some organizations that some of their allowances will be retired because they misrepresented data.
The agency is planning to propose additional rules regarding HFCs under the AIM Act. The next round of proposals will focus on transitioning away from HFCs in the refrigeration, air conditioning, foams, and aerosols sectors.
