Fluorinated gas emissions in Europe

The European Environment Agency (EEA) recently published its annual report on fluorinated greenhouse gases. The report evaluates the progress of the phase-down of the use of fluorinated gas as required by the European F-Gas Regulation since January 1, 2015. It gives figures for the 2007 2016 period.

 

F-gases, mostly (more than 90%) HFCs, accounted for about 3% of overall greenhouse gas emissions in tonnes CO₂ equivalent in 2015. 2015 was the first year of declining EU F gas emissions (4%) in 15 years. In 2016, the supply of total F gases increased by 2% in mass but decreased by 2% in CO₂ emissions, illustrating the move towards gases with lower GWPs. In the refrigeration sector, large increases in the use of lower GWP HFCs saw Europe stay 4% below the 170.3 Mt F gas phase down limit for 2016.

 

Nevertheless, a bigger step will be taken in 2018, since the maximum quantity of HFCs to be placed on the market should be 63% of that of 2015. For comparison, this ratio was of 93% in 2016 and 2017.

 

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