The Nickel Report

As we approach the new year, several regulatory initiatives concerning hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are on the horizon with major implications to the retail industry with particular impact on the retail food industry. Since ozone depleting substances were phased out of the economy beginning in the 1990s, HFCs have been the most commonly used refrigerant in air conditioning and refrigeration appliances. Now EPA is phasing these refrigerants down based on their global warming potential (GWP).

Joining a growing chorus of states, several Northeastern states, including Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island, have recently announced their intentions to impose a ban on the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The looming regulatory actions by these states are generally anticipated to follow an HFC ban rulemaking model established by the members of the US Climate Alliance.[1] It remains to be seen, however, whether the states will look to additional regulatory options, as it was a worldwide product ban in the late 1980s that inadvertently set the stage to now limit alternatives containing HFCs due to their climate forcing potential as a greenhouse gas (GHG).