Scientific Body Urges U.K. to ‘Match or Exceed’ EU F-gas Regulation
The U.K. Climate Change Committee (CCC) has called for the U.K. government to “match or exceed” the level of increased ambition that will be adopted following the revision of the EU F-gas Regulation.
This was one of the messages contained in the 2022 Progress Report to the Parliament released June 29. The report points out major gaps in the implementation of policy measures supporting the U.K.’s net-zero goals.
The report notes that the f-gas sector represents 3% (12MtCO2e) of total UK emissions in 2020. Even if credible policies to reduce f-gases are in place domestically, the body calls for “stronger international action on reducing f-gas emissions, including health services in other countries,” referring to f-gases emissions released from the use of high-GWP HFCs in metered dose inhalers.
With regard to heat pumps, the scientific body says, “most heat pumps use f-gas refrigerants, which could become a significant source of f-gas emissions as heat pumps get rolled out across the UK, unless the Government takes action to ensure that they shift to using non-F-gas refrigerants. Potential replacement refrigerants [to fluorinated gases] include propane [R290] and CO2 [R744].”
Following Brexit, the U.K. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has led the effort to draft the country’s F-gas regulation. The new regulation, however, is not expected to come into force before 2024.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) is an independent, statutory body established under the Climate Change Act 2008 whose purpose is to advise the U.K. on climate-related and emissions reductions policies, as well as report to Parliament on their progress.