On Thursday 30 March, MEPs will vote on their position on the revision of the EU F-gases regulation. These gases, although less present in the atmosphere, can have a global warming potential up to 25,000 times that of carbon dioxide.
The report, voted in the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (ENVI) on 1 March, is led by MEP Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Dutch). With this text (see EUROPE 13132/9), the Committee on the Environment recommended more drastic reductions in F-gas emissions.
However, they are in line with the proposals adopted by the Commission on 5 April 2022 (see EUROPE 12926/3) on the allocation of F-Gas production rights, setting a downward trend towards the use, where technologically feasible, of alternatives to F-Gases.
In addition, the Commission proposal introduces an energy efficiency dimension into certification and training programmes by further developing labelling and reporting requirements and penalties.
The main amendments tabled, in view of the debates which will start on Wednesday 29 March, concern Annex IV and relate to specific phase-out dates for various applications: refrigeration, air conditioning, heat pumps, switchgear.
Annex VII on the 2050 global target for zero emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is also affected. MEPs want to consolidate the new regulation by banning the placing on the European market of products containing fluorinated gases and by speeding up the elimination - from 2048 - of HFCs, used in particular in air conditioning and refrigeration.
In addition, particular attention has been paid to the deployment targets for RePowerEU heat pumps, which should not be destabilised by the reduction of hydrofluorocarbons. Finally, MEPs call for greater vigilance against illegal trade. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)