Industrial demand for and use of fluorinated gases (F-gases), these very potent greenhouse gases, continues to decline in the EU, according to the latest report from the European Environment Agency, published on Tuesday 1 December.
This 2020 report on progress towards the EU’s objective of reducing emissions of F-gases by two thirds by 2030 (compared to 2010) shows that in 2019 the amount of HFCs placed on the market in the EU remained below the overall market limit for the fifth consecutive year, i.e. by 2%.
EU consumption of HFCs in 2019 was 55% lower than the first limit set for the EU in 2019 by the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol - an amendment that gave the signal for a worldwide phase-out of HFCs.
The report also shows that total imports of fluorinated gases into the EU in 2019 have decreased by 14% compared to 2018 (by 19% when measured in CO2 equivalent). This decrease is largely due to lower imports of HFCs and, for the rest, to lower imports of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs).
Emissions of fluorinated greenhouse gases have been decreasing in the EU since 2015, after 15 years of uninterrupted annual increase.
To view the report: https://bit.ly/2HXcNDn (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)