EC Seeks Feedback for F-Gas Review

The European Commission (EC), the executive branch of the European Union (EU),is seeking feedback for its F-Gas Review, and interested parties are invited to contribute until September 7.

The “Review of EU rules on fluorinated greenhouse gases” initiative was published on June 29; it was first outlined in the EC’s “Inception Impact Assessment” document.

Feedback is sought on “to what extent the F-Gas Regulation is working well, the need to review it, the choice of policy options and expected impacts.”

The main stakeholders from whom feedback is sought include the chemical industry, the refrigeration and air conditioning sector, electricity providers, business associations and national administrations.The document is available for download here, and those wishing to provide feedback can do so on the European Commission website.

Feedback plans

The purpose of the feedback will be for “further development and fine tuning of the initiative,” according to the EC.

“The Commission will summarize the input received in a synopsis report explaining how the input will be taken on board and, if applicable, why certain suggestions can’t be taken up.”

The review is part of an EC “roadmap,” the process by which the commission “describes the problem to be tackled and objectives to be met, explains why EU action is needed, outlines policy options and describes the main features of the consultation strategy.”

EU f-gas emissions amount to 2.5% of overall EU greenhouse gas emissions, and have increased by 60% since 1990, according to the Inception Impact Assessment document.Thus, “while the existing rules in place can already achieve significant emission reductions, the EU should update the rules in the light of the European Green Deal objectives, recent international obligations (cf. Kigali Amendment), technical progress made and lessons learned during the implementation.”

The EU adopted strict f-gas rules in 2014 –Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 – designed to reduce emissions by two-thirds by 2030.

But current f-gas rules can only safeguard EU compliance with the Kigali Amendment until 2030, according to the document.

Likely outcomes

The review will likely seek to align EU policy with the Kigali Amendment beyond 2030, set more ambitious phase-down targets, and “improve implementation and enforcement,” according to the Eurovent website:

Eurovent summarized the timeline as follows:

• The current feedback widow runs until September 7.
• A single online public consultation will run for 14 weeks in Q3/2020.
• There will be a stakeholder workshop in Q1/2021 to receive feedback on preliminary findings of the Evaluation and Impact Assessment of f-gas rules.
• The Evaluation & Impact Assessment will be completed in Q2/2021.
• The proposal for a revision will come in Q4/2021.