HFC firms accused of ‘stitch-up’ to wipe out green technology

Date: 23/05/02

By Laurence Frost

PRODUCERS of greenhouse gases up to 12,000 times

more damaging than carbon dioxide have been accused of 'stitching-up' Europe's industry standards body to put those firms using eco-friendly substitutes out of business.

The row has erupted as the European body CEN prepares to approve draft rules that would phase out greener hydrocarbon coolants from most refrigerators and air-conditioning systems.

The committee looking into the issue is dominated by 14 representatives of firms which produce or use the HFC greenhouse gases.

Members are expected to maintain strict confidentiality about its business, but rival hydrocarbon gas and equipment makers - who have just four seats - have broken their silence to complain that the technical body has been hijacked by the HFC club.

'This sort of stitch-up stops sustainable development in its tracks,' said Chris Rose, author of a report for the hydrocarbon industry campaign led by the UK's Calor Gas.

Rose said 80% of hydrocarbon air-conditioning could no longer be sold in the EU under the proposed standard, which reduces the maximum amount of hydrocarbon allowed in any single cooling system.

He points out that hydrocarbons such as propane and butane have no impact on climate change, while HFCs contribute to global warming.

'What you've essentially got is one industry that is able to write another industry's products out of the standards,' Rose said.

He added: 'These frighteningly powerful greenhouse gases can wreak havoc on our climate.'

But other companies on the committee insist the new tougher standards are about safety, not their commercial interests.

'If you've got half a kilogram of hydrocarbon in a machine you have the equivalent of half-a-kilo of TNT,' said Darcy Nicolle of United Technologies, which owns HFC air-conditioning equipment maker Carrier.

He added the risk of leaks was the reason behind the new limits on hydrocarbons. 'We want to have safe machinery and for our customers to be safe,' Nicolle said.

A final decision could emerge next month, when Calor Gas and other hydrocarbon players, such as Italy's De'Longhi alongside Germany's Steibel Eltron and BSH, will try to change the draft standard, which they say could wipe out firms specialising in green refrigeration technology.

Approval of the new standard would leave little room for alternatives to HFCs in many appliances, and could make it harder for the Commission to take a tough line when it proposes new restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions later this year.

• Denmark is on a collision course with the EU after its new Environment Minister Christian Schmidt said he would maintain the previous government's plans to ban most uses of HFCs by 2006, which prompted objections from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Commission.

Austria, Luxembourg and Ireland are also in the process of introducing or considering HFC bans.

Producers of greenhouse gases up to 12,000 times more damaging than carbon dioxide have been accused of 'stitching up' Europe's industry standards body to put those firms using eco-friendly substitutes out of business.