Commission rules out earlier F-gas review

EUROPE: The European Commission has again rejected a call for an earlier review of the F-gas regulation (2024/573). 

At the beginning of the year, Wopke Hoekstra, the Dutch commissioner responsible for climate, net zero and clean growth, rejected a request from Italian MEP Isabella Tovaglieri to re-evaluate the F-gas regulation before the 2030 review in the light of a slump in heat pump sales. 

This week, Hoekstra had a similar response to a written question from Dan-Ştefan Motreanu. The Romanian MEP claimed that the positive impact of heat pumps was threatened by regulatory uncertainty due to the F-gas regulations.

With the F-gas regulation stating that the phase out depended on an evaluation of available technologies and their effectiveness by 2023, Motreanu claimed that manufacturers faced five years of investment uncertainty. 

He asked whether, given the importance of the heat pump sector, the Commission would consider an earlier review of the F-gas regulation to take place as early as 2025 or 2026.

In response, Hoekstra said that the regulation’s ambitious quota system and the number of restrictions in crucial sectors provided clear signals to manufacturers of green technology.

“A review at this moment, one year after the Regulation has been put in place, would remove this planning certainty for companies,” Hoekstra stated. 

“A regular review, as envisaged by the Regulation in 2030, of the cost-efficiency and effectiveness of its measures is however useful in order to ensure the continuation of appropriate policies that reduce emissions in line with the EU’s climate goals and at the same time support innovation in these crucial sectors.”

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EC rejects call to review F-gas regulation – 8 January 2025
EUROPE: The European Commission has refused a call to re-evaluate the F-gas regulation 2024/573 in the light of a slump in heat pump sales. Read more…