The new F-gas regulation is a paradigm shift in the refrigeration industry

In the mid-March 2024, the European Union's (EU) new regulation on fluorinated gases, so called F-gases, started to apply. These F-gases are being used as refrigerants, one of the most common one being hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The new F-Gas Regulation is stricter than its precedent. And this may be a surprise to none.

Changes pushing towards natural refrigerants

One of the changes that the new regulation brings, is the pace of phasing out the so-called quotas of the F-gases. There is a stronger focus on moving to natural refrigerants like carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and ammonia. The EU has set targets high to achieve the transition in a short period of time.

Another relatively big change is the certification requirements for refrigeration technicians and natural refrigerants. This has been mentioned already earlier but now it is officially required.

There have been requirements for leak checks and their intervals, and they remain also in the new F-gas regulation. What has changed is that the EU has added more refrigerants into these requirements. The requirements for these newly added refrigerants are not based on carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) as the others but on kilograms.

Another change related to leak checks is a so-called follow-up leak check. With this new regulation, at least 24 hours must pass after the completed fix before the follow-up leak check shall be concluded.

Read about the F-Gas Regulation on the European Commission site

Looking forward

Things to take into account going forward for building owners, will be with creating such a strategy that keeps long-term energy savings, sustainability and operating economy on top of mind when choosing refrigerants. We are happy to help you changing into more sustainable refrigerants.

For us, as an installation and service company, not only we need to keep ourselves up to date with the needed skillsets and insights but to attract also top professionals to come and work with us.

And for everyone, we need a different way of thinking, and knowledge about the needed technology, and also insights and skills, to be able to achieve final goals.


This blog article is based on an interview published on caverion.se.