Revisions would end French climate ambitions
8th March 2023
FRANCE: The French heat pump association AFPAC has warned that the F-gas revisions proposed by the EU environment committee, if passed, would end French ambitions to fight global warming.
AFPAC warns that the faster elimination of HFCs and prohibiting all heat pumps and refrigeration equipment containing fluorinated gases from 2027, whose power is less than 12kW, would put a stop to French ambitions to fight against global warming and is contradictory to the European ambitions of #RePowerEU.
While AFPAC says it supports the HFC phase-down, it says it considers that the implementation of the tighter phase down would have a number of consequences.
It argues that such a move would significantly slow down the heat pump market because the industry will not have the time to massively develop equipment using “natural” refrigerants. In addition, the reduction in quotas would promote the planned obsolescence of heat pumps installed in recent years and for future years due to the lack of availability of refrigerant to ensure maintenance from 2027.
AFPAC also estimates it will result in the loss of 30,000 jobs and skills in installation and maintenance jobs by 2030. This, it says, would prevent France from achieving its SNBC objectives because 2.4 million homes could not be renovated by 2050 with an effective, low-carbon solution that strongly promotes renewable energies.
The European parliament is due to vote on the amendments on 29 and 30 March.
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