Overheating? Radical policy proposals put climate targets at risk

Europe needs heat pumps, tens of millions of them, across residential and commercial buildings and they need to be installed as a matter of urgency. It is a policy priority, a societal imperative, and an absolute necessity from a sustainability perspective.

By Lucian Boldea, President of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies

Heat pump technology will help households and businesses achieve dramatic reductions in their energy usage. It will lower emissions and cut the cost of heating and cooling homes and commercial premises ranging from factories to shops and hotels.

Heating alone accounts for 50% of the EU’s energy consumption and 70% of this still comes from burning fossil fuels. This large-scale technology roll-out is necessary to meet the existential challenges of reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels including Russian oil and gas, enhancing energy security, and – above all – mitigating the impacts of climate change.

This is why heat pumps are such a significant part of the European Union’s RePowerEU plan, which calls for the installation of 60 million heat pumps across member states by 2030. They are also at the heart of domestic policy initiatives such as Germany’s Buildings Energy Act, which sets a target of 500,000 heat pumps installed each year from 2024.

We have now arrived at a moment where we, literally, need all hands to the pumps if we are to meet this target including installers, distributors, builders, householders, business owners and policy makers.

Our industry, and our own business, also have a key role to play here. In our case we have developed heating and cooling solutions based on fluorinated gases, Hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), industrial, high-tech refrigerants. Research shows that HFOs, in many instances, are the most energy efficient refrigerants with the lowest global warming potential (GWP) and they are already deployed widely in a range of heating and cooling applications from heat pumps to industrial chillers.

We estimate, for instance, that without HFOs an additional €10–30 billion in electricity costs would be incurred by the European supermarket sector alone because of the lower energy efficiency of alternatives. This would also result in up to 24 million additional tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from EU supermarkets every year. That’s the equivalent of the emissions produced on an annual basis by 4.7 million petrol cars.

HFOs are a solution designed specifically to meet the pressing needs we face across society and across our economies. They are designed, moreover, to be used in circumstances where other available industrial alternatives such as propane, ammonia or carbon dioxide (CO₂)-based refrigerants are not suitable due to safety and other considerations.

In a recent and significant installation, analysis of the energy efficiency showed a HFO based solution outperforming an alternative ammonia option by 25 percent in terms of energy efficiency. In addition, HFOs are less flammable, less toxic, and do not pose the same risks to human health, food, and beverage operations. Put simply, HFOs provide better safety. Myriad additional savings, such as standard design, more routine maintenance, and more mean significant cost savings accrue to all who need to keep their produce fresh, be it apple farmers or breweries. All that in times of high inflation and rising cost.

In our view, without HFOs the EU simply will not achieve the ambitious climate action and energy independence goals set out in the Commission’s Green Deal proposals, the Fit for 55 legislative package and the RePowerEU plan. In addition, HFOs are used in applications that are vital to society in many areas beyond heat pumps. From heating of buildings, to use as safe propellants, for use in inhalers, medical packaging and more, HFOs provide safe and proven options.

To meet the challenges ahead of us we should be providing options and embracing a range of innovative technologies to meet a complex and widely divergent range of demands – from keeping homeowners warm in apartments in Berlin to cooling holidaymakers staying in Barcelona hotels. Instead, there is a risk that we will enter this crucial window of opportunity in the fight against climate change with one hand effectively tied behind our backs.

We have seen in the trilogue negotiations currently underway on the revisions to the F-Gas (fluorinated gas) Regulation, discussion around a radical proposal from the European Parliament that could effectively phase out the use of HFOs. This is a position, it should be noted, which was some distance from the stances of the Council and the Commission entering trilogue. It was also opposed by a considerable minority of MEPs when discussed by Parliament and by a host of European trade associations representing potentially impacted businesses from food growers to hoteliers. These include: the farmers and agri-cooperatives represented by Copa Cogeca; the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump businesses represented by EPEE; and the craft and small and medium-sized businesses across the EU represented by SMEUnited.

Ongoing regulatory initiatives to restrict the use of industrial gases and chemicals which do not meet the safety, energy efficiency and sustainability profile policymakers, customers and citizens expect and demand are welcome and we are supportive of F-Gas Regulation which achieves this objective.

The unintended consequences of removing HFOs from the market, though, would be far-reaching and serious. It would be a perverse outcome if in the pursuit of cleaner air, greater energy efficiency and a better quality of life for all those who live in or visit Europe we frustrate those very objectives by removing from the market an innovative technology developed to help achieve them.

The challenge the EU, its businesses and citizens are facing, is tremendous. I am convinced smart policies and regulations, which keep all options on the table, can get us there.

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