The European Union has closed a loophole that would have allowed car manufacturers to continue putting allegedly climate damaging chemicals in new vehicle air conditioners beyond a 2011 ban.
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The move opens up a new market for ‘greener’ refrigerants, with industry giant Honeywell International pitching its HFO-1234yf coolant against rival carbon dioxide-based systems, such as that of Austria’s Obrist Engineering, Reuters said.
The European Union ruled in 2006 that from 2011 it would ban the use of fluorinated chemicals, such as the industry standard hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) R134a, said to have a powerful climate warming effect if released into the atmosphere.
R134a replaced the long-used chlorofluorocarbon CFC12 refrigerant in the mid-90s in most developed nations, requiring supplier to redesign vehicle air conditioners to work with the less efficient coolant.
The latest move is intended to help the EU meet its commitment of reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto protocol, the United Nations’ main tool against climate change, Reuters noted.
The rules apply to all new models of car from 2011, and any new vehicle at all from 2017.
But many of the EU’s national authorities decided not to enforce the ban for new vehicle types that were using air conditioning systems already approved in previous models.
That would have effectively rendered the law obsolete until 2017 for the millions of European cars produced each year.
“Such an interpretation would result in the circumvention of the objectives of the legislation,” the European Commission said in a letter, seen by Reuters, to EU member states.
From 1 January 2011, EU member states may only approve new vehicle models using less environmentally damaging gases, regardless of whether the air conditioning system has been approved before, the EU executive added.
