Chemours faces €20m fine for further F-gas quota violation
8th March 2026
NETHERLANDS: Chemours faces a further penalty payment of nearly €20m after claims by Dutch authorities that the company once again placed more HFCs on the European market than permitted.
The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT), the body responsible for enforcing compliance with the F-gas regulation in the Netherlands, imposed a penalty of €1m on Chemours in 2023 for exceeding its quota. As in 2023, this latest alleged violation also involves the importation of HFC23. The new conditional administrative fine relates to the years 2026–2028.
The ILT wants to enforce compliance and prevent further violations by imposing a penalty of €66.76 per tonne of CO2 equivalent exceeded, with a maximum of €19.7m.
HFC23 is a gas with a high GWP of 14,800. It is a by-product of the manufacture of a number of refrigerants but is also used as a feedstock.
Chemours emphasises that the alleged violations relate to quota exceedance at its fluoropolymer manufacturing plant in Dordrecht, and was not related to refrigerant manufacturing, blending, or use.
In a statement to the Cooling Post, Chemours said: “We are disappointed that this new measure is being imposed while objections and legal proceedings concerning earlier F‑gas quota decisions are still ongoing.”
Chemours insisted that it has “consistently reported transparently and fully” on the F‑gases it places on the market. This, it said, included the sale of refrigerants for use in heat pumps, air conditioning, etc, and on F‑gas emissions related to its Dordrecht facility.
“Chemours’ position is that while the stream in question is intended for destruction and does not involve emissions of F‑gases into the environment, all fluorinated gases that are emitted, which are very limited, are fully captured, controlled and accounted for by Chemours under the applicable quota system and environmental controls. In addition, the F‑gas stream that does reach the environment has been reduced by approximately 99% compared to 2021.”
According to the ILT, its investigation revealed that Chemours also used the imported HFC23 in its production process and was therefore, it argues, not exempt from the quota. It also claims that Chemours had not reported the import of HFC23 to the European Commission in 2021.
It says that based on this information, the European Commission decided to impose a quota reduction of 964,724 tons of CO2 equivalent on Chemours. Chemours appealed this decision to the European Court of Justice. A request was made through an interim injunction to postpone the application of the quota reduction pending this ruling. The Court rejected the request for an interim injunction. The case is still pending.
The European Commission is expected to impose this quota reduction on Chemours in 2026 for the 2027 calendar year.
Related stories:
Chemours fined €1m for alleged F-gas breach – 29 May 2025
NETHERLANDS: Chemours must pay a penalty of €1m for violating the European F-gas regulation by importing the high GWP HFC23 gas for use at its polymer and elastomer plant in Dordrecht. Read more…
