A couple of years earlier than expected, 2018 is proving to be a critical year for the entire Refrigeration and Air Conditioning sector. European Regulation 517/2014 provides for a gradual reduction (Phase Down), from 2015, in the use of HFC refrigerants by refrigeration equipment manufacturers. In, this reduction imposed by the legislation must amount to 37% during the current year, while the subsequent steep drop to 45% is to be achieved by 2020. However, we are witnessing a dramatic acceleration of the Phase Down process, in large part due to difficulty in obtaining the most common HFC refrigerants and the consequent sudden and dramatic increase in prices, in accordance with the well-known market rules of supply and demand. This situation is directly controlled by the multinational refrigerant gas producers that have implemented a political and commercial strategy of strong obstruction to the use of widely used refrigerants such as R410a, R134a and R404a. This has effectively forced the entire sector to find and introduce alternative refrigeration fluids.