EU reaches deal on exit schedule from climate-wrecking F-gases

Lawmakers in Brussels have agreed on the dates by which heat pumps and electrical equipment must ditch fluorinated gases and switch to more climate-friendly alternatives.

F-gases account for about 2.5% of EU greenhouse gas emissions. Among the worst of them, SF6 is 25,000 times worse for the climate than CO2 – and the bloc has committed to phasing all of them out rapidly via the Montreal treaty and its Kigali amendment. 

Yet, F-gases are also vital to the functioning of crucial technologies: heat pumps and switchgear for electrical systems.

This made negotiations politically fraught, with the Green’s lead negotiator Bas Eickhout pushing for more than EU countries were willing to give. Talks in July collapsed as a result.

Those issues have since been ironed out and negotiators were able to close the deal in record time on Thursday (5 October).

“We’ve reached an ambitious deal that would end F-gases,” said Eickhout, who was the lead negotiator for the European Parliament during talks with EU member states.

Spain’s Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, whose country negotiated on behalf of the 27 EU countries, said she was “extremely satisfied” with the outcome.

After months of negotiation and a veritable lobby-fest – the chemical industry even launched a dedicated website – caused by the HVAC industry’s interest in keeping their products marketable for as long as possible, what are the key outcomes?

The complete phase-out of F-gases by 2050 stands. Until then, the F-gas quota will drop sharply. From 2030 to 2032, a mere 20% of the F-gases allowed from 2024 to 2026 will be allowed on the EU market. This general trajectory was largely uncontroversial during the negotiations and keeps the EU on track to meet its international climate obligations.

“Today’s deal on the F-Gas Regulation marks one of the greatest climate wins of von der Leyen’s Commission,” said the European Environmental Bureau, which brings together green NGOs from across Europe.

By contrast, targeted product bans proved the most controversial. Specifically, heat pumps, which rely on F-gases to transfer outside heat into homes – and switchgear that regulate electrical flows and require F-gases to function.

Initially, the heat pump industry worried that banning F-gases from their products too quickly would collapse the nascent market. The agreed compromise excludes small heat pumps (and air conditioners) running on F-gases 150 times worse than CO2 from 2027, while climate-friendlier models are banned from 2032. 

Heat pump lobby chief Thomas Nowak called this timeline “ambitious, but doable.” Larger models, including those with split systems that make installation more tricky, will see a full ban from 2035. 

EPEE, a broad heat pump and HVAC industry association, called the European Parliament’s approach “dogmatic”, arguing that the law will put the bloc’s decarbonisation at risk.

Lawmakers, for their part, hope that restricting the market quicker will help shield European manufacturers from their more experienced competitors abroad. 

“European companies are already at the forefront of developing clean alternatives to F-gases, so this law will be good for the climate and the European economy,” said Eickhout.

Switchgears come out clean

The electricity grid association Eurelectric appears relieved – switchgear essential to the functioning of the grid will benefit from manifold exemptions following a lobbying blitz in Spring. 

“The provisional deal is good news. It allows for an orderly transition by setting a realistic phase-out for F-gases with key safeguards and a derogation scheme,” said Eurelectric secretary general Kristian Ruby.

F-gases in medium voltage switchgear will be banned from 2030, while the cut-off for high-voltage models will be set at 2032. On top, should climate-friendly alternatives not be available, the super climate-wrecker SF6 can continue to be used. 

Regulation on switchgear had been complicated by the fact that a select few manufacturers can produce them without F-gases, prompting concerted lobbying from their competitors to avoid being shut out of the market.

[Edited by Alice Taylor and Frédéric Simon]

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