Brussels, 20/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - Within the EU, there will be a major slowdown on the sales and use of fluorinated greenhouse gases, as hoped for by the outgoing Lithuanian Presidency. Meeting within Coreper on Wednesday 18 December, the member states' ambassadors enshrined the first-reading agreement reached in trialogue the day before on the proposed regulation on F-gases. The agreement establishes a regulatory framework guaranteeing a substantial reduction of these gases with the best possible cost-efficiency ratio, and sends out a clear signal to industry.
“The Lithuanian Presidency hoped to reach an agreement on this major environmental dossier, in order to allow this regulation to enter into force quickly, including the sequence of the phase-out of these gases. The work of the EU on reducing F-gas emissions also sends out an important signal ahead of the international negotiations under the Montreal Protocol and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change”, said Valentinas Mazuronis, the outgoing president of the Environment Council.
The text of the agreement limits the quantity of F-gas which may be sold within the EU, in order gradually to reduce sales to one fifth of the current volume by 2030. In addition, it bans the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in certain equipment (such as household or supermarket refrigerators by 2022, small air conditioning systems by 2025, foam sprays and aerosols), for which viable alternative solutions which are less harmful to the climate are already widely available.
It also aims to prevent emissions of F-gases from existing equipment, by means of checks and by collecting gases at the end of the life-cycle of the equipment in which it is used. A revision clause in the regulation will allow the Commission to assess the method for allocating quotas in order to lay down a price for each CO2 equivalent tonne of HFC.
Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, welcomed the unanimous support of the Council for the agreement reached on the basis of a proposal submitted by the Commission in November 2012. “This legislation will substantially reduce emissions of very powerful greenhouse gases whilst stimulating technological development and innovation within European industry”, she stated. She also hopes that this step forward will give a new political shot in the arm to the conclusion of a global agreement on the gradual elimination of fluorinated gases in the framework of the Montreal Protocol.
F-gases have a global warming potential 23,000 times higher than that of CO2. Within the EU, emissions of these have increased by 60% since 1990, whilst emissions of the other greenhouse gases have fallen over the same period. (AN/transl.fl)