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A national roadshow was held this month to update industry on the hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phasedown and its impact on organisations responsible for maintaining motor vehicle air conditioners across Australia.
The roadshow, known as Future:Air, delivered information to help businesses that own, manage or repair air conditioning equipment for the arrival of new systems, equipment, technology and regulations.

It has been almost 18 months since the HFC phasedown was formally introduced in Australia and overall it has been a pretty smooth transition locally.

However, the European experience has seen massive price hikes, gas supply problems and a flourishing illegal trade in HFCs.

Refrigerants Australia executive director, Greg Picker, said the HFC phasedown has been successful here because there has been a small reduction every two years which has allowed industry to adjust without any significant disruption.

“There is a still a federal government review scheduled for 2022 to ensure everyone is on track and to make changes, if they are required,” he said.

Under the Kigali Amendment, all 197 United Nations member countries are phasing out the production and import of ozone depleting substances such as R22.

It is estimated that the global phasedown will reduce emissions by up to 72 billion tonnes by 2050.

Worldwide countries that are signatories to the amendment have introduced a ban on R134a, which was commonly used in new automotive air conditioners.

R134a has been replaced by HFO1234yf.

To accommodate the change Chemours opened a new refrigerant production facility in the United States to triple the global capacity of HFO 1234yf-based products.

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