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MIPIGGS Newsletter EU Plays Into The Hands of the US Automobile and Chemicals Industry In the early 1990s, the European Union missed an opportunity to replace halogenated chemicals in air conditioning and refrigeration, when it accepted HFCs as a replacement for CFCs and HCFCs. Now HFCs are a major threat to the climate, rising at over 20% a year in the atmosphere. Hence for the past few years European legislators have tried to undo the damage. States such as Austria and Denmark and to a lesser extent Germany, Netherlands and Sweden showed what could be done to replace f-gases altogether - by adopting proven, existing and almost invariably more effective and efficient technologies based on ammonia, CO2, water and hydrocarbons. Sadly for the environment, when the EU came to introduce its 'f-gas directive' these environmentally progressive nations and the best efforts of some in the European Parliament were progresively undone by fierce lobbying backed by the mainly US-based car and fluorochemicals industry, including companies such as Dupont and Honeywell. Lobbyists for industry out-numbered those for the environment by at least 100:1 and financially, the odds were worse still. The United States never had such qualms and has persisted in branding HFCs as a 'solution' rather than a problem, because it accepted the the ozone depletion problem (HFCs having no ozone impact) while it denied climate change (HFCs being thousands of times worse than the benchmark gas, CO2). Now we have a set of almost finalised EU rules which fail to promote or require alternatives, ban only insignificant uses of HFCs and rely on the failed hope of 'containment' backed up by paper reporting requirements. As reported below, they even make it harder for countries to go further to restrict HFCs on a national basis. In the generous time allowed to phase out uses of HFCs, Europe could have led the world in converting to sustainable technologies. Instead, we can now see what looks like the familiar game plan of the US fluorochemicals lobby coming to the fore. A 'harmonization' agreement has been announced between the EU and US, on leakage rates, which will set a standard drafted by the car industry. Based on previous experience (see the report on standards at www.mipiggs.org "The capture of standards by the F-gas industry") may expect this to favour the products of the fluorochemical industry. Lo and behold, Honeywell have just come forward with news that they have a new refrigerant for cars (see below). No details are so far available for Honeywell's new refrigerant but it is likely to be a fluorinated chemical. A possibility is that it could be based on HFPEs or HFEs, which have been touted for use to replace chlorinated refrigerants such as HFCs, HCFCs and CFCs in blowing foams and in cooling. Tests on HFPEs for cooling (heat transfer) include work done in Ford Motor facilities. HFPEs have been proposed to replace PFOS, which has been controversial on grounds of toxicity and persistence. Some HFPEs are belived to have very high Global Warming Potentials but with short atmospheric lifetimes, which might explain Honeywell's claim about an improvement on HFCs. However, they are unlikely to out-perform CO2 systems on environmental grounds. US manufacturers may also be planning to promote the flammable HFC 152a. This has a GWP of 140, just below the 150 limit specified in the new EU rules. Escaping 152a would therefore have 140 times worse impact on the atmosphere than if a CO2 system was used. In 2004 Dr. Stephen Andersen, director of Strategic Climate Projects at US EPA, spoke publicly 'in support of R152a as a replacement for existing refrigerants' [1]. On 9 February this year US chemicals firm Dupont also announced it has a new alternative, which it was keen to promote as preferable to CO2 because it will be a 'drop in' replacement for HFC 134a (not requiring new technology). Could this be based on 152a? [2] This is the way the world is run now. Politics of the environment is more and more determined by whoever has the greatest commercial interest but it is not overt - it happens in the drafting of regulations by expert committees, in the hidden minutae of standard setting and by the ultimate non-news of 'harmonization'. EU Rule Inhibits Further Controls On F-Gases In January a 'conciliation' meeting of the European Parliament and Council reached agreement on the Regulation on F-gases, and the mobile air conditioning Directive to phase out F-gas emissions from systems in motor vehicles. The Council pressed for a cut-off date for exemptions for member states wanting stricter controls (likely to include Austria and Denmark). MEPs agreed to a date of 31 December 2012 if a clause was added allowing future revision to be considered (ENDS Report). Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas claimed the rules would convert a projected increase in emissions of 50% from 1995 to 2010 into a 20% cut. The mobile air conditioning rules are legally based on the article 95 of the EU treaty, the "internal market", whereas the regulation on other applications of f-gases has a dual legal basis also including article 175 "environment". In theory this allows Member states will be free to introduce tougher national standards if they wish. But the environmental intelligence journal ENDS Daily (1 March 2006) pointed out that under the conciliation accord, any member state which by December 2005 had adopted stronger national measures concerning parts of the regulation based on article 95 will be allowed the keep them until 2012. 'In practice this applies only to Austria and Denmark'. Adding 'any other member state wanting to enact national law beyond the EU standards will now face significant hurdles to do so'. ENDS notes that Sweden, which might want to pursue stronger action against f-gases 'will have to fulfil the requirements of article 95 before passing stronger laws. This means proving scientifically that the national measures are justified because of local environmental concerns. Since f-gases cause a global and not a local environmental problem, the chances of member states getting their way appear low'. The Regulation covers hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride. Instead of requiring the use of existing non-f-gas alternatives such as CO2, water, hydrocarbons or ammonia, the rules are based on 'containment', a system which is already proven to have failed to prevent emission losses to the atmosphere. ENDS reports that Member states will merely 'be "invited" to promote the use of less damaging alternatives under both pieces of legislation, which should be officially adopted by mid-2006.' The regulation allows for leakage inspection standards for refrigeration, air conditioning and fire-fighting equipment and provisions for recovering the gases from discarded equipment. It includes emissions monitoring, F-gas labelling on some appliances, and a ban of F-gases tyres and windows. HFC-134a is phased out from from 1 January 2011 for new vehicle models and 2017 for all new vehicles. Europe's Green Party opposed the agreement as too weak. Following conciliation agreement, the final adoption of the 'legislative acts' by Parliament and Council is expected by mid-2006. Member States will then have 18 months to transpose the Directive, while the Regulation will enter into force unchanged 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal and will apply 12 months from the date of entry into force. 'The legislation is only a first step' said the EC. 'Once in force there will need to be a period of monitoring and evaluation, after which the Commission will consider the need for additional measures on the basis of a thorough review.' Harmonisation Of Pollution? Following up the EU decision, in February the EU and US announced on 20 February that they would 'harmonise standards' to minimise leakages from fluorinated gases used in car air conditioning systems - i.e. HFC134a, 1300 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than CO2. "On 31 January the EU agreed to phase out the emissions of refrigerant greenhouse gases from mobile air conditioning systems until 2017. Our intention to harmonise global standards to limit emissions is part of our commitment to the fight against climate change," said Günter Verheugen Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for enterprise and industry policy. The news came from officials of the European Commission, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Air Resources Board, gathered at a trade show for mobile air conditioning held in Saalfelden in Austria. The new leakage-rate standard, SAE-J-2763, is being developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and will apply to all new cars sold in Europe after 2008. "Our intention to harmonize global standards to limit emissions is part of our commitment to the fight against climate change", said Günter Verheugen Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for enterprise and industry policy. Others are less convinced. One commentator told MIPIGGs. "Any welcome for this could be over-optimistic. As far as I can see this is not the export of a 2017 ban but the harmonization of leakage controls and product standards. The US groups are committing to 'remove barriers to refrigerants permitted by EU' or words to that effect. In other words we'll stop regulations getting in the way of CO2 and HFC-152a - so I guess this is about lowering flammability standards amongst others. Watch out for the leakage reduction approach coming back into the EU to undermine the 2017 phase-out date, all in the name of 'harmonisation'." Honeywell's New Refrigerant: A Strange Coincidence By a strange coincidence, at the same meeting where the US-EU standardisation was announced, the US chemicals and materials firm Honeywell, a long time promoter of HFCs, announced a mystery new refrigerant for use in car air conditioning. This 'will meet 2011 European Union environmental standards for reducing use of global warming potential (GWP) substances' said Honeywell. Honeywell's new technology is a substitute for HFC-134a but also for CO2, a technology with almost no global warming threat (as amounts released from air conditioning would be insignificant given its GWP of 1) but for which there are several European systems already available for use in vehicles. "The results of our initial performance, toxicity and flammability testing are encouraging," said Richard Preziotti, vice president and general manager for Honeywell's Fluorine Products business. "The testing has shown that our new technology can be used as a direct replacement for HFC-134a with minimal reengineering of automotive systems. We have sampled potential customers and Tier 1 suppliers, and initial feedback is positive. We believe it is a more practical and cost-effective solution than CO2." Honeywell says it 'will provide additional details on its new technology in March at the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan (JSAE) Automotive Air- Conditioning Conference in Tokyo'. [1] http://www.motorage.com/motorage/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=93188 For any enquires contact: secretary@mipiggs.org |
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