Landmark EPA Climate Rulemaking Takes Aim at U.S. Phasedown of Super-Pollutant HFCs

The Environmental Protection Agency has published a landmark new climate regulation to establish an allocation system to cap and begin phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the super pollutant greenhouse gases used mainly in cooling. The White House also announced a series of actions coordinating across six federal agencies to accompany the rule, including creating an interagency task force on illegal HFC trade and several initiatives to advance alternative technologies and manage HFC stocks.  The actions are in line with implementing the global agreement under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to reduce HFC consumption by at least 85% by 2035 and are expected to avoid more than 4.5 billion metric tons of CO2~ equivalent emissions by 2050.