The agency’s two recent actions introduce enhanced restrictions on hydrofluorocarbons and provide a series of compliance dates for industry stakeholders.
By Stacey VanBelleghem and Jennifer Garlock
On October 5, 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two rules, one final and one proposed, to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the bipartisan American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (AIM Act). The agency’s recent actions represent major steps in the Biden administration’s goal to significantly reduce HFCs over the next decade.
HFCs are a group of chemical refrigerants and potent greenhouse gasses (GHGs), commonly used in foam products, cooling systems, aerosols, and fire suppressants. International focus on managing these compounds sharpened in the 1980s, when countries agreed in the Montreal Protocol to shift global markets away from the ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — the then dominant strain of refrigerant and aerosol chemicals — toward HFCs. Although HFCs are less damaging to the ozone layer than CFCs, they have global warming potential (GWP) values (a figure that allows comparison of relative climate impact of a GHG) hundreds or thousands times higher than carbon dioxide (CO2), which has a GWP equal to 1. In 2016, nearly 200 countries adopted the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol agreeing to a global phasedown of production and use of HFCs. The US ratified that amendment on October 31, 2022.
On August 25, 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) unanimously approved regulations that require all new 2035 and later passenger vehicles to be zero-emission vehicles. The agency’s “Advanced Clean Cars II” regulations require manufacturers to deliver an increasing percentage of zero-emission vehicles each year, starting with 35% of new vehicle sales for cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs in 2026, and ramping up each year to reach 100% new vehicle sales by 2035.
On August 12, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom submitted five climate proposals (the Climate Proposals) to the California legislature in the waning days of California’s legislative cycle. In his statement following the transmittal, Newsom explained that “[w]e’re taking all of these major actions now in the most aggressive push on climate this state has ever seen because later is too late.”
On June 8, 2022, Canada launched the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Offset Credit System (the System) to create a “market-based incentive to undertake innovative projects that reduce greenhouse gases.”
On June 30, 2022, the US Supreme Court issued its long-awaited ruling in West Virginia v. EPA — the consolidated petitions addressing EPA’s authority to regulate existing power plant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). In a 6-3 opinion drafted by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court ruled against EPA, holding that EPA’s attempt to force an overall shift in power generation from higher-emitting to lower-emitting sources exceeded EPA’s statutory authority. Indeed, the Court noted that such a sweeping transformation of the nation’s power sector implicated a “major question” requiring explicit congressional authorization, that the Court argued the CAA did not provide.