EPEE: the F-gas regulation works
25th November 2020
BELGIUM: The European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) has stressed the importance of participating in the current public consultation on the review of the F-gas regulation.
The consultation, which is open until December 29, takes the form of a survey with opportunities for further comments.
“Answering the 29 questions of the survey is not always easy, but replying is very important to make sure that feedback is as broad based as possible in order to enable an honest debate at European level, which can be expected during the first quarter of 2021,” said Andrea Voigt, director general of EPEE, which represents RACHP manufacturers.
In a thinly-veiled swipe at the recent survey by “natural” refrigerants media group Shecco, Voigt revealed: “We decided not to launch a survey to our stakeholders because we knew that the European Commission would do so anyway through its roadmap, public consultation and stakeholder workshop.
“We trust and support the process at EU level which is truly representative of the full stakeholder landscape,” she added.
EPEE stresses that stakeholder feedback is an essential element and formal part of the European decision-making process. The feedback to the roadmap, which closed on September 7, attracted 76 submissions, of which, EPEE says, only 11 chose to remain anonymous. 27 answers were submitted by associations representing a broad range of industries both at European and at national level, eight by NGOs, the remainder mainly by individual companies.
“Given the large number of associations, it is certainly no exaggeration to say that hundreds of companies made their voices heard,” EPEE says.
EPEE also stresses that the format of the stakeholder feedback was not pre-defined, explaining that “there was no bias in questions which happens sometimes in case of surveys”, leaving it to the participants to highlight their individual priorities.
Andrea Voigt adds: “The feedback on the roadmap published on the EU Commission’s website sends a clear message: The EU F-gas regulation works. This comes as no surprise: The European Commission itself has stated that the F-gas regulation is expected to save around 65% of greenhouse emissions by 2030, which is huge and well in line with the European Green Deal. Moreover, since 2015, the relative emission savings of f-gases have been the highest of all measured gases such as CH4, N2O, etc.”
