EUROPE: The UK air conditioning and refrigeration manufacturers' body, FETA, has accused the European Parliament's Environment Committee (ENVI) of side-stepping the democratic process in an attempt to force through an HFC ban.
Describing Wednesday's vote to ban HFCs from 2020 as a dark day for democracy, FETA claims the Environment Committee has exploited a procedural loophole to deny the majority of MEPs any chance to influence their extreme proposals to amend the F-gas regulations.
'By voting to give their rapporteur a mandate to begin immediate negotiations with the European Council, to their great shame they have side-stepped the normal process of permitting all MEPs an open discussion on the amendments at an initial reading in plenary session of the EP,' says a statement from the UK association.
'Effectively, this provides the rapporteur carte blanche to horse trade with member states behind closed doors,' it continues. 'He will be armed with a range of unpalatable measures, such as banning HFC refrigerants in air conditioning from 2020.
'This callous act of political expediency should be seen in the context of a desire by Brussels to attend the Montreal Protocol meeting in November with a severe European agreement to phase down HFCs - in the mistaken belief that other nations would follow their ill-advised lead.
'It is the owners, operators and users of HFC-based acr equipment across Europe who will once more pay the price of this political folly,' it warns.
Apart from EPEE's condemnation of the vote yesterday, there has been little reaction so far from elsewhere in Europe.
The Italian association of domestic appliance manufacturers CECED warned that the decision to ban HFCs in stationary air conditioning would also result in the prohibition of heat pumps - a product crucial to the reduction of energy consumption in the EU.
'Heat pump technology is essential to ensuring the EU reaches its energy efficiency targets,' said CECED director general Luigi Meli: 'Without F-gases, heat pumps cannot achieve their outstanding energy efficiency performance and meet internationally required safety requirements. A well-constructed phase down scheme should recognise the energy savings that heat pump technology can offer and allocate a sufficient quota for further development.'
Luigi Meli also pointed out that a European HFC production and export ban would put EU manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage, particularly as HFCs are the only legally allowed refrigerants in some non-European markets.