The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a proposed rule to implement the next step of the nation’s HFC* (hydrofluorocarbons) phase-down to a 40% reduction below historic levels starting in 2024. HFCs are a class of powerful greenhouse gases regularly used in refrigeration and air conditioning, aerosols, and foam products. Their negative climate impact can be hundreds to thousands of times stronger than the same amount of carbon dioxide.
The proposal follows the Senate’s bipartisan ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, a global agreement to phase down HFCs and avoid up to 0.5-degrees Centigrade of global warming by the end of this century. It’s the latest step in assuring US Global Leadership on fighting Global Warming and Extreme Climate Change, which are people, jobs and planet killing. The Senate voted 69-27. Forty-eight Democrats and 21 Republicans voted aye. Four members abstained. The opposition largely came from the Republican party of Nope. The United States was the 137th country to ratify the amendment.
“American companies are already leading on innovation and manufacturing of HFC alternatives – and today’s vote will help our nation unlock an estimated 33,000 new domestic manufacturing jobs, $4.8 billion each year in increased exports, and $12.5 billion each year in increased economic output. This builds on the steps my Administration is already taking to phase down these dangerous super pollutants, with the support of Democrats and Republicans, industry leaders, and environmental organizations,” President Biden said on 21 September 2022 when the amendment passed.
Under the bipartisan American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM), EPA has established a national HFC Phase-down Program that will reduce the production and consumption of these chemicals by 85% by 2036. The Biden-Harris Administration has also launched actions across other agencies to support this phase-down, which it’s said will create thousands of jobs to help ensure American companies out-compete the rest of the world in innovating and manufacturing HFC alternatives.
Today’s EPA proposal establishes the methodology for allocating HFC production and consumption allowances for 2024 and later years, similar to the methods used for issuing allowances in 2022 and 2023. This is the first step to achieve 10% of this phase-down. Now, the number of available allowances in 2024 will be reduced significantly to 40% below historic levels.
“The proposal amends the historic consumption baseline level from which reductions are made to reflect corrected data submitted to EPA, as well as more precisely specify record-keeping and reporting requirements, to help preserve the environmental and economic benefits associated with the HFC phase-down,” EPA said.
To ensure that all companies are complying with the phase-down requirements, the HFC Phase-down Program EPA claims it has “established robust enforcement mechanisms, drawing from experience globally with illegal HFC trade and with attempts to illegally introduce ozone-depleting substances into the U.S. market. Since January 1 of this year, companies have needed allowances for producing or importing HFCs. In the first nine months of this year, the Interagency Task Force on Illegal HFC Trade, co-led by EPA and the Department of Homeland Security, has prevented illegal HFC shipments equivalent to more than 889,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) at the border, the same amount as the emissions from nearly 173,000 homes’ electricity use for one year,” EPA said.
Moreover, on 30 September, EPA issued allowances to companies authorizing them to produce or import HFCs in 2023. EPA issued total allowances at the same level as in 2022 per the phase-down schedule, although the number of entities receiving allowances for 2023 increased slightly. EPA also notified certain companies that the Agency intends to retire some of their allowances due to misreporting data. EPA’s administrative consequences authority, which allows EPA to retire, revoke, or withhold the allocation of allowances, or ban a company from receiving, transferring, or conferring allowances, is a crucial tool to deter illegal HFC production and import.
EPA is planning to issue additional proposed rules regarding HFCs under the AIM Act. The next proposed rule will focus on transitioning away from HFCs in the refrigeration and air conditioning, foams, and aerosols sectors. The refrigeration and air conditioning sector uses the most HFCs in the United States.
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EPA Hydrofluorocarbon Rule Attacks Global Warming
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a proposed rule to implement the next step of the nation’s HFC* (hydrofluorocarbons) phase-down to a 40% reduction below historic levels starting in 2024. HFCs are a class of powerful greenhouse gases regularly used in refrigeration and air conditioning, aerosols, and foam products. Their negative climate impact can be hundreds to thousands of times stronger than the same amount of carbon dioxide.
The proposal follows the Senate’s bipartisan ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, a global agreement to phase down HFCs and avoid up to 0.5-degrees Centigrade of global warming by the end of this century. It’s the latest step in assuring US Global Leadership on fighting Global Warming and Extreme Climate Change, which are people, jobs and planet killing. The Senate voted 69-27. Forty-eight Democrats and 21 Republicans voted aye. Four members abstained. The opposition largely came from the Republican party of Nope. The United States was the 137th country to ratify the amendment.
“American companies are already leading on innovation and manufacturing of HFC alternatives – and today’s vote will help our nation unlock an estimated 33,000 new domestic manufacturing jobs, $4.8 billion each year in increased exports, and $12.5 billion each year in increased economic output. This builds on the steps my Administration is already taking to phase down these dangerous super pollutants, with the support of Democrats and Republicans, industry leaders, and environmental organizations,” President Biden said on 21 September 2022 when the amendment passed.
Under the bipartisan American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM), EPA has established a national HFC Phase-down Program that will reduce the production and consumption of these chemicals by 85% by 2036. The Biden-Harris Administration has also launched actions across other agencies to support this phase-down, which it’s said will create thousands of jobs to help ensure American companies out-compete the rest of the world in innovating and manufacturing HFC alternatives.
Today’s EPA proposal establishes the methodology for allocating HFC production and consumption allowances for 2024 and later years, similar to the methods used for issuing allowances in 2022 and 2023. This is the first step to achieve 10% of this phase-down. Now, the number of available allowances in 2024 will be reduced significantly to 40% below historic levels.
“The proposal amends the historic consumption baseline level from which reductions are made to reflect corrected data submitted to EPA, as well as more precisely specify record-keeping and reporting requirements, to help preserve the environmental and economic benefits associated with the HFC phase-down,” EPA said.
To ensure that all companies are complying with the phase-down requirements, the HFC Phase-down Program EPA claims it has “established robust enforcement mechanisms, drawing from experience globally with illegal HFC trade and with attempts to illegally introduce ozone-depleting substances into the U.S. market. Since January 1 of this year, companies have needed allowances for producing or importing HFCs. In the first nine months of this year, the Interagency Task Force on Illegal HFC Trade, co-led by EPA and the Department of Homeland Security, has prevented illegal HFC shipments equivalent to more than 889,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) at the border, the same amount as the emissions from nearly 173,000 homes’ electricity use for one year,” EPA said.
Moreover, on 30 September, EPA issued allowances to companies authorizing them to produce or import HFCs in 2023. EPA issued total allowances at the same level as in 2022 per the phase-down schedule, although the number of entities receiving allowances for 2023 increased slightly. EPA also notified certain companies that the Agency intends to retire some of their allowances due to misreporting data. EPA’s administrative consequences authority, which allows EPA to retire, revoke, or withhold the allocation of allowances, or ban a company from receiving, transferring, or conferring allowances, is a crucial tool to deter illegal HFC production and import.
EPA is planning to issue additional proposed rules regarding HFCs under the AIM Act. The next proposed rule will focus on transitioning away from HFCs in the refrigeration and air conditioning, foams, and aerosols sectors. The refrigeration and air conditioning sector uses the most HFCs in the United States.
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