EU bans fluorinated gases in fridges, hitting 80% of supermarkets

EU phases out fluorinated gases: 80% of supermarkets must upgrade

Eight out of ten supermarkets in Spain cool with a gas Brussels has just condemned. The Council of the European Union voted to definitively ban the manufacture of refrigeration equipment, air conditioners, and heat pumps using fluorinated gases. The sector had been anticipating this for over a year. "We knew it was coming. This was a foregone conclusion," admits Susana Rodríguez Jiménez, president of the Spanish Association of Refrigeration Companies and Technologies (AEFYT).

The blow does not come alone. The European F-Gas regulation has been cutting back the use of high-GWP fluorinated gases—those with the most damaging emissions—for years. What changes now is the horizon: there is no longer any margin to stretch the life of old machinery.

What the EU Council bans and who it affects

The regulation hits manufacturers, installers, businesses, and individuals. In refrigeration, the industry will have to "rush" to offer a "reliable and definitive" technological solution to businesses that currently depend on these gases. According to Rodríguez, manufacturers are "very prepared" to switch to natural refrigerants, but they face two pending tasks: training installers and lowering costs for a technology that, despite being eco-friendly and efficient, is currently much more expensive.

That is the crux of the matter. Mandating change by decree is fast; replacing industrial installations is not. And those paying for the transition are not the ones signing the regulation.

Why supermarkets are the biggest losers

In Spain, the industrial sector already tends to operate with natural refrigerants. Retail does not: more than 80% of supermarkets still use high-GWP refrigerants. That is exactly where the rule hurts, because these are large, expensive installations designed to remain untouched for years.

The bill is not just about the equipment. In addition to unforeseen medium- and long-term investment, many businesses would have to close for weeks to replace existing installations, resulting in lost sales. There is also a consequence that reaches the shopping cart: business expenses ultimately affect the customer. Translated into monthly purchases, the cost is paid at the checkout.

How to know if your fridge uses fluorinated gases?

The measure also covers domestic fridges, freezers, chest freezers, and upright freezers, though the impact here is much smaller: only older appliances use fluorinated gases, and most manufacturers have phased them out. The type of gas is listed on the identification plate inside, next to the model and brand.

• R22: Used in the oldest fridges. The EU banned its use in 2015.
• R134a: More eco-friendly than the previous one, but still a fluorinated greenhouse gas, with a GWP of 1,300.
• R438a: Does not damage the ozone layer and has a GWP of 2,151.
• HFC-134a: Designed for domestic, commercial, and industrial refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pumps. GWP of 1,300.
• R600a: Isobutane, a hydrocarbon, not a fluorinated gas. It is the most used today in domestic fridges and is not affected by European regulations.

Some point out an uncomfortable detail about R600a: it is flammable. According to calculations circulating in the discussion, a 200-liter fridge contains about 40 grams, and a leak would not be catastrophic, but the issue scales up significantly in large installations. Environmentalism also has its technical fine print.

The timeline: import quotas tighten before 2050

The EU sets 2050 as the deadline to phase out fluorinated gases, but Brussels has also approved a reduction in imports that will be felt much sooner. In refrigeration—air conditioning has a different schedule—the reduction in market placement quotas will make maintaining current equipment unviable in some cases. Industry materials state clearly: from 2030, only natural refrigerants or those with less than 150 GWP can be used in new installations under 40 kW.

That is the real clock. Not the 2050 deadline, but the time when repairs start becoming impossible next year.

Who pays for the transition?

Here the analysis opens up on several fronts. One view holds that the regulation is another barrier for small businesses and a windfall for large corporations: chains amortize the investment, while corner shops struggling to make ends meet cannot. To this tension adds another, more diffuse front. Some look at the global framework and note that the climate cost falls on individuals while maritime transport and imports continue unchanged, and others, with nostalgia, invoke old trades: one forum user recalled that in Granada, fridges were once wooden boxes filled with snow brought from Sierra Nevada by ice harvesters. Irony or nostalgia, the fact remains that the icebox returns to the imagination.

With 80% of retail still hooked on old gas, the question is not whether there will be a transition, but how many fridges will last until 2050 without someone declaring them illegal beforehand.