F-gases, a family of refrigerants commonly used in fridges and air conditioners, are being phased out in order to prevent global warming from spinning out of control. But efforts to gradually ban the refrigerant have also created a thriving black market, which the European Union is struggling to contain.
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EU seeks to phase out planet-warming refrigerants
The EU’s legislation on fluorinated gases, adopted in 2014, needs an overhaul “to increase ambition in line with the European Green Deal” and “better prevent” an ongoing surge of illegal imports coming from China, an EU official told EURACTIV.
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The dark underbelly of the illicit trade in F-gases
In its crackdown on planet-warming F-gases, the EU introduced annual quotas in 2018, hoping the resulting price increase would encourage the use of greener refrigerants. But instead of a green transition, the move has generated a black market economy raking in the surplus.
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F-gas manufacturers brace for tougher EU climate goals
The fluorinated gases industry is gearing up for a transformation as tighter supply restrictions are due to be implemented in the coming months and an upcoming EU legislative review next year is expected to push the EU market even further towards greener alternatives.
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Busoi MEP: ‘A total ban on HFCs would not be realistic’
As long as greener alternatives to hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants are not available at a competitive price, they should not be banned, says Cristian Bușoi.
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Join the pledge to help stop the biggest black market you’ve never heard of
Illegal HFC refrigerants are being smuggled into Europe by organised crime outfits outside of the quotas defined in the F-gas regulation. The gases are widely circulated, readily available online and difficult to detect within the F-gas supply chain, meaning that …