At the ASERCOM 2022 Conference, held last week partly online and partly in person, one could not fail to mention the revision proposal for the F-gas Regulation, just published by the Commission. Bente Tranholm-Schwarz, European Commission DG Climate, presented the main lines of the Commission's proposal and answered the numerous questions from the public.

This revision was also born from the need to follow the climate ambition of the EU and reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 instead of "only" 40% as was required by the regulation currently in place, decided before the Green Deal - explains Tranholm- Schwarz. For the individual Member States, the reduction in emissions achieved with F-gas also contributes to achieving the reductions envisaged in the national plans.

The new element of this revision is the alignment of the F-Gas Regulation with the Montreal Protocol (HFC), an alignment necessary not only for reasons of reputation but also for strategic and climatic reasons: If the EU, world leader in climate policies, does not succeed in aligning itself with a worldwide Protocol, there would be the risk that other countries will also ease their efforts. In addition to this, respecting the Montreal Protocol will lead to avoiding an increase in global average temperatures of 2°C by 2070 globally, to which are added the 0.4 degrees of increase saved by 2100 with the global phase-down of the F-Gases. All proposed changes to the F-gas Regulation must therefore comply with the Montreal Protocol. 

According to ASERCOM, the proposed changes would lead to:

• A phase-down that allows sufficient quantities for the service and maintenance of HVACR systems;
• A proposal for quotas which in fact results in an impossibility of using JFC or their mixtures in new appliances from 2027 (the authorizations already on the market are needed for importers of preloaded appliances);
• A 2027 that will theoretically only see the use of natural refrigerants or HFOs in new appliances (except when these do not meet safety standards);

IMPACTS of the proposal in NUMBERS according to the Commission are:

• An additional saving of 310Mt CO2eq by 2050 (equal to the emissions in Spain in 2019: 315 MtCO2eq);
• An additional energy saving between 0.1 and 0.3% in 2030 and 0.1-0.5% in 2050 compared to the baseline of electricity used by RACs;
• In general, the savings will outweigh the costs, even if individual sectors may not experience the regulation in this way.

The revision proposal also talks about making training mandatory for alternative refrigerants as well, creating a certification program that individual Member States must organize.

It is also essential that the training becomes more specific and dedicated especially for those technologies, such as heat pumps, which will have a huge development on the market. Technicians are needed who know how to install and manage a heat pump and know how to do it with every refrigerant they can contain.