Manufacturers will no longer be required to replace hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants with chemicals that are less potent greenhouse gases, according to an August 8 decision handed down by a federal appeals court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of the plaintiffs in the case of Mexichem Fluor Inc. vs. the EPA.
 
“The fundamental problem for EPA is that HFCs are not ozone-depleting substances, as all parties agree. Because HFCs are not ozone-depleting substances, Section 612 would not seem to grant EPA authority to require replacement of HFCs. Indeed, before 2015, EPA itself maintained that Section 612 did not grant authority to require replacement of nonozone-depleting substances such as HFCs. But in the 2015 Rule, for the first time since Section 612 was enacted in 1990, EPA required manufacturers to replace non-ozone-depleting substances(HFCs) that had previously been deemed acceptable by the agency,” stated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. “In particular, EPA concluded that some HFCs could no longer be used by manufacturers in certain products, even if the manufacturers had long since replaced ozone-depleting substances with HFCs.”

“This ruling has significant implications for our industry, and we will be monitoring the EPA’s response closely,” said Stephen Yurek, president and CEO, the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). “Despite the court’s decision, our industry remains committed to ratification and implementation of the Kigali Amendment to globally phase down the use of HFC refrigerants.”