The European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE), representing manufacturing and research companies and associations operating in the refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump industry in Europe, today signalled its disappointment with the European Parliament’s rejection of several amendments included in the F-Gas Regulation Revision, which would have helped Europe achieve its climate and energy independence goals while maintaining an affordable but ambitious regulation.
“The European Parliament F-gas vote harms European industry and harms Europeans by pushing unrealistic goals that undermine the heat pump rollout and hold back the decarbonisation of the built environment — indirectly benefiting fossil fuel-based technologies,” said Russell Patten, Director General of EPEE. “We are dismayed that Parliament has rejected pragmatic amendments to the implementation of the F-gas regulation revision.”
“Our members are fully committed to the phasedown of HFCs, but are gravely concerned that the amendments adopted in the European Parliament today are not affordable for many Europeans, are not technically feasible in all applications, risk the safety and energy efficiency of some equipment, and do not allow enough time to properly train installers and service technicians.”
“We remain hopeful that we can achieve some balance in this regulation over the coming months,” said Patten. “Today’s plenary vote demonstrated less support for ENVI’s proposals, showing that some of industry’s key messages are being heard. We now look to the Council and member states, and hope industry’s perspective will be considered to develop a more pragmatic and realistic implementation.”
