EPEE is promoting the EU F-Gas Regulation and calls for its revision to further reduce emissions. The regulation has started to deliver emission reductions through its containment and reporting requirements. If fully implemented, it could stabilize emissions at current levels. However, to meet the EU's 2050 climate goals, more efforts are needed. EPEE supports a balanced phase-down approach over prescriptive bans to promote energy efficiency and innovation while reducing emissions.

1. EPEE – The European Partnership for Energy and
the Environment
The EU F-Gas Regulation:
The way forward
By Andrea Voigt – EPEE Director General
Disclaimer: The information contained in this presentation represents
EPEE’s point of view and not in any way that of the European Union as such.

2. Who is EPEE ?
The full value chain of the
Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pump sector
A major part of the European RAC & HP industry
• > 200,000 employees in Europe
• > € 30 billion turnover in Europe

3. EPEE’s mission is to promote:
Environmental
Compliance
Energy
Efficiency Safety
Affordability

4. EPEE’s main current fields of activities
• Promote Energy Efficiency
– Ecodesign Directive
– Energy Efficiency Directive
– Eco Label and Energy Label
– Energy Performance of Buildings Directive
– Renewable Energies Directive …
• The F-Gas Regulation and its revision
– Maintain and strengthen the F-Gas Regulation
– Support a technically and economically feasible phase-down
• Raise awareness on Market Surveillance
– Importance of properly enforcing and policing legislation
• Promote an HVACR association network at EU level

5. Who is the EU? The three Institutions
European Commission: Starts policy formulation
• Sole right of Legislative Initiative
• Enforces Community law
• Administers & implements policies & legislation
• Voice of the EU & negotiates international agreements
European Parliament: Co-legislates with the Council
• 736 elected national politicians from 27 Member States
• Elected every five years – last elections in 2009
• Largest political group: conservatives
• Largest delegations: GER, FR; UK; IT; SP; PL
• MEPs work in Brussels, Strasbourg and home const.
European Council: Co-legislates with the Parliament
• Represents the Member States via Ministers and
Permanent Representatives
• Amends and adopts proposals
• UK, FR, G (IT, SP, POL) = Key larger countries 5

6. Main EU initiatives & EPEE priorities
DG Energy DG Climate Action DG Environment
Commissioner Oettinger Commissioner Hedegaard Commissioner Potocnik
The Roadmap for a
The Energy Efficiency The Roadmap to a low ressource efficient
Action Plan carbon economy in 2050 Europe
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
• Ecodesign • F-Gas Regulation • WEEE
• EPBD • Renewable • RoHS...
• Energy label ... Energies Directive..

7. More concretely:
The EU 20 – 20 – 20 target

8. The current F-Gas Regulation:
Main requirements
Containment & recovery Reporting obligations
• Preventive tightness checks: • F-gas to be reported:
Frequency depends on the amount of with main categories of
F-gas contained applications
• Leak detection systems: • Applies to:
For applications containing 300kg or producers, importers and exporters
more of F-gases of quantities > 1to
• Record keeping (logbooks) • Member States to establish
reporting systems.
• Recovery, recycling or
destruction Labelling
Training and certification
• For new equipment:
• Adequate training of personnel Chemical abbreviation of F-gas
handling F-gases Weight of the refrigerant
Kyoto protocol-covered
• Mutual recognition in the EU Where applicable: product is
• Minimum requirements only hermetically sealed.
agreed upon in July 2007 • Further information in the
manual (e.g. GWP)

9. Does it work?
YES: It has already started to deliver !
23 member states have
set up training centres • > 20% emission rate
reduction in the NL
20 member states have
notified certification bodies • Approx. 20% emission
rate reduction in the
UK retail business
23 member states have
notified penalties • Increased awareness
of the need of tighter
16 member states > 50% and better designed
certified companies components and
Average in EU27 : 43.3% connections
• Regular inspection and
16 member states > 50%
certified personnel. maintenance accepted
Average in EU27: 47.5% as being necessary
Source: Ökorecherche; Data: as of July 2011

10. Will it reduce emissions?
YES: substantially !
Source:
- 46%
- 44%
- 28%
Source: Commission report Oct 2011
If all provisions of F-Gas Regulation and MAC Directive are fully
applied, emissions will at least stabilise at todays levels

11. The predecessor of the F-Gas Regulation:
The Dutch STEK scheme, in place since 1992
Higher productivity:
Installers increase productivity of
own activities due to high quality
HVACR systems
Cost savings: Higher reliabilty:
Refrigerant, spare part and Manufacturers and installers
energy savings for owners due increased quality of equipment
to regular maintenance & service
Increased awareness:
Reduced emission rates:
Industry and operators
understand the environmental From 20-25% to 3.5%
impact of HVACR
Cost of STEK: EUR 0.33 / hour / service engineer

12. A practical example on
implementation: Hungary
• Hungarian Monitoring &
Certification Body
• > 7600 certified personel; 1200
certified companies; > 2000
registered operators; > 22000
registered refrigeration circuits
• ODS and F-Gas regulations merged
into one global registration and
certification system
• Web-based registration and
certification system
• Barcode-ID and circuit labelling
• Online track-keeping of all services
(leakage checks, maintenance, etc.)
• Access to the database by
authorities

13. Lessons learned so far…
1. Co-operation between national governments
and the industry is essential
• A recipe for success (i.e. the UK, Hungary, Slovakia, the
Netherlands).
• It is essential to ensure that the obligations of the F-Gas
Regulation are communicated to all those affected and are
being understood correctly.
• The UK F-Gas Support is a prime example for successful
communication: removes hurdles and stimulates compliance
2. The implementation of a complex piece of
legislation such as the F-Gas Regulation takes
time:
• It took 5 years for the STEK system to be fully understood and
implemented by all actors in the Netherlands.  Several of the
implementing measures under the F-Gas Regulation (labelling,
training) only entered into force in 2008.

14. Lessons learned so far…
3. Containment works
• Unfortunately there is a lack of available data -- little
time has passed since the implementation of the F-Gas
Regulation.
• STEK showed a major improvement in leakage:
From 25% emissions to 3,5% emissions in 7 years
time with even lower emissions percentages known
today (in 2011, VRF systems in the Netherlands
reached less than 0.5% emissions).
• AREA (contractors) /EPEE survey:
When and where the F-Gas Regulation has been
implemented correctly contractors observe a clear
decrease in refrigerant emission rates.
• The F-Gas Regulation has clearly lead to better
awareness among users.

15. Lessons learned so far…
4. The bigger picture…
• The HVACR industry is extremely diverse:
Any regulatory measure needs to take into account this diversity.
• The choice of a refrigerant depends on a range of factors:
Climate, application, energy efficiency, safety, cost, technical viability, direct and indirect
emissions, etc.
• Implementation takes time:
The EU has 23 official working languages and 27 Member States with their own national
legislative regimes.

16. Lessons learned so far…
5. The F-Gas Regulation has boosted innovation
• New alternatives have been developed (HFOs)
• Improvements in HFC technology (lower GWP), e.g. cascades, micro-channel,
etc.
• Other sectors using HFCs are keen to be included under the F-Gas Regulation (i.e.
refrigerated transport sector). Some countries have done so already (FR, NL, ES)

17. The revision of the F-Gas Regulation
Art. 10 of the F-Gas Regulation 842 / 2006:
• By 4 July 2011, the Commission shall publish a report based on the experience of the
application of this Regulation.
• Where necessary, the Commission shall present appropriate proposals for revision of the
relevant provisions of this Regulation.
Ökorecherche COMMISSION REPORT 
report Experience with 842/2006 & Need for further action
Q4 2011
Stakeholders
YES: Revision  NO: Revision
Q1 2012
Öko-Institut
report COMMISSION REPORT
Impact assessment on different policy options
Q2 2012
Stakeholders
COMMISSION legislative proposal

18. The Commission Report:
Public Consultation launched until Dec 19
Key points: Suggestions to further reduce emissions:
1. It is still too early to quantify the effect
of the Regulation’s containment and
1. Drive transition to technologies with lower
recovery provisions GWP. Savings potential up to 70 mt CO2eq:
– Phase-down: cost estimated to be < 20€/to CO2eq
– Bans
2. If all provisions are fully applied in all – Voluntary agreements
Member States, the Regulation & the
MAC Directive would stabilise EU-27 2. Improve containment and recovery
emissions at today’s levels of 110 provisions:
million tonnes of CO2eq – despite the – Cost effectiveness questioned: 41€/to CO2eq
growing use of HFCs – Full implementation required
– Extension to transport refrigeration considered
3. In the context of the overall EU-objective
to cut emissions by 80-95% by 2050, 3. Improve monitoring
stabilising the F-Gas emissions at – Extend to pre-charged products and equipment
today’s level is not adequate. More imported or exported from EU
efforts are required. – Enhance MS reporting systems for emission data
4. Take account of latest scientific information
4. The Commission supports global – Fluids to be considered
action under the MP to phase-down – GWP values to be considered (4th IPCC)
HFCs

19. The importance of the global context
Source: Ökorecherche
HFC market growth takes place in the developping world !

20. The F-Gas Regulation and its revision:
Benefits & objectives
The F-gas regulation: The revision:
Its main benefits:
• Strong EU-wide legal
EPEE‘s objectives:
framework
• Lower emissions via 1. Full implementation of
containment the Regulation
• Monitoring of emissions
• Freedom of refrigerant 2. A realistic and
choice for highest efficiency, balanced global
safety, and lowest phase-down
emissions.
3. No sacrifice on energy
In the longer term: efficiency, safety and
• Pushes innovation affordability
• High-skilled workforce
• Improved quality of
equipment, education and
training

21. EPEE‘s priorities on top of the current
F-Gas Regulation…
• Improving awareness, surveillance and control
 Assignment of trained control bodies in the member states
 Awareness campaigns at operator level
 Controls at installer level
• Broadening of the F-Gas Regulation’s scope
 Controls at retail sales channel level
 Include transport refrigeration
• Recovery and reuse of HFCs
 Incentives for installers and operators, e.g. deposit schemes
 Allow recovery and transportation of HFCs by certified
companies
• Harmonization of certification
 Harmonized CEN standard EN 13313
 Create EU wide databases
• Leakage rate targets
 Harmonized CEN standard EN 15834
 EU methodology to determine relative refrigerant loss

22. The EPEE roadmap for emission
reduction
Low carbon
economy Phase down
2020
targets
Improvement
Full
implementation

23. A one size-fits-all solution ?
… There is no perfect refrigerant !

24. Phase-Down:
A soft landing
TODAY
2020
2030
2050

25. Phase-Out:
A high-risk command and control policy
Phase-down Phase-out
What is it? What is it?
A gradual reduction Makes products illegal
The benefits: The risks:
• Achieves climate goals • Technology prescriptve
• Allows for flexibility and • Jeopardizes 2020 & future targets
affordability – Heat pumps & geothermal
• Fosters innovation plants use f-gases
• Strengthens competitiveness – Loss of energy efficiency
• Conserves resources • Undermines competitiveness
• Promotes recycling • Can lead to unsafe practice
• Can be a global solution • Plant closures & job losses in EU
• Encourages containment • High costs to society
principle set by F-gas policy

26. EPEE’s five main recommendations for legislators
1. EPEE calls for a holistic approach with a focus on
overall CO2 emissions
2. Four attributes (Safety, Environment, Economy and
Energy Efficiency) must be taken into consideration
when making decisions
3. Energy efficiency is key for industry and society
4. A realistic and balanced phase-down provides
regulatory certainty on CO2 equivalents => along with
energy efficiency mandates, this ensures success for
2020 and for future targets
5. No prescriptive bans or GWP cut offs as these are
counter productive for energy efficient systems

27. Thank your for your attention !
For more information, please contact:
EPEE – The European Partnership for Energy and the
Environment: www.epeeglobal.org
Avenue des Arts 46
1000 Brussels
secretariat@epeeglobal.org
a.voigt@epeeglobal.org