CEDRIC Sloan, director general of the manufacturers
association FETA, has called on the industry to lobby
their MPs and MEPs in an effort to overturn
amendments to the F-Gas regulations which could see
the banning of HFCs throughout Europe by 2010.
The decisions voted on at the second reading
included phase-outs of HFCs in domestic
refrigeration (four years after the entry into force), on
commercial refrigeration and air conditioning in 2010
and in all foams in 2009.
It also included a change of the legal basis to the
single environment, which would allow Denmark and
Austria to keep their existing bans and allow other
countries to do the same in the future. This was
contrary to the dual environment and internal market
legal base as earlier approved by ministers.
Hope of overturning these amendments now rests
on a European Parliament plenary vote sometine
during the week beginning October 24.
EPEE (The European Partnership for Energy and
the Environment), which was present at the vote,
described the outcome as 'a step back for sensible
policy making on climate change.'
Cedric Sloan, director general of FETA, clearly
annoyed at the Committee's stance, said 'This is
political bargaining and they don't understand the
consequences. How is the NHS, for instance, going to
be able to afford to replace every HFC installation in its
hospitals by 2010?'
Speaking afterwards, EPEE director general
Friedrich Busch stated: 'We urge the European
Parliament as a whole to reject the Environment
Committee's report on F-gases.
'The Committee adopted a raft of amendments
which will make a range of appliances using F-gases
illegal without consideration of their likely negative
impact, high costs and consequences,' said an EPEE
statement. The amendments also include a ban on all
domestic refrigerators (with a charge of less than 150
grams) and a phase-out of HFCs in foams by 2009.
'These bans are disproportionate and
technologically prescriptive,' added EPEE.
'The draft law will deliver substantial reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions. The Committee's
obsession with legal base and bans will add
unnecessary and unjustified costs with little real
environmental benefit.'
Cedric Sloan was similarly forthright when ACR
News interviewed him the day after the vote. Describing
the vote as 'blatant political manoeuvring,' he said
'Everything proposed yesterday runs contrary to what
the Council of Ministers have previously approved and
contrary to the advice of the European
Commissioners.'
Speaking to ENDS, the Environment Daily, the
Parliament's rapporteur MEP on the legislation, Avril
Doyle, dismissed complaints that a single legal base
would fragment the market in F-gases. 'With respect,
industry's protests are nonsense,' she is quoted as
saying before the vote. 'We employ a legal opinion and
we should listen to our legal opinion,' she said,
referring to a recommendation prepared by the
parliament's legal service earlier this year.
Not surprisingly, the vote delighted environmental
groups and countries such as Denmark and Austria
which have already banned HFCs.
Greenpeace described the vote as 'a major result
for climate protection.......which promises to restrict the
use and release of harmful global warming gases.
'Until now, the chemicals industry has succeeded
in blocking the replacement of these potent
greenhouse gases. Today's decision is a victory in the
battle against global warming, and vindicates those
progressive countries and companies that have already
switched to climate-friendly alternatives,' said Mahi
Sideridou of Greenpeace.
Opponents of the ban argue that these further
amendments are actually having a detrimental effect on
the environment by delaying implementation and the
legal enforcement of a register of refrigerant handlers.
'This confrontational posturing will delay
agreement well into next year,' claimed Cedric Sloan,
'and will probably now not come into effect until 2007,'
Talking about the regulations, Graeme Fox,
chairman of the HVCA's Refrigeration and Air
Conditioning Group said 'This was also supposed to
pave the way for the long-awaited mandatory refrigerant
handling scheme.'
The HVCA established a voluntary scheme over a
decade ago, in recognition of the importance of
controlling the transport and recovery of gases with
global warming potential. 'The regulation was a source
of great optimism,' he said, 'as it seemed that at last
we would have statutory backing for making the
scheme mandatory.
'Now, however, we are in a state of limbo. The plan
was for the regulation to be formerly adopted at the end
of this year and from then EU member states would
have 18 months to put its measures into force. This
timetable is in serious doubt now,' he added.