The US legislation dealing with the phasedown of production and consumption of HFCs is explained
RA executive director Dr Greg Picker provides this overview and analysis of the HFC section of the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act
The American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2019 S. 2754 can be found at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2754/text
This Act:
- sets out the phasedown of production and consumption of HFCs through a quota system and trading program
- allows for the establishment of regulation to manage how regulated HFCs are used as refrigerants (equipment and standards for servicing, repair, disposal and installation) and how they are reclaimed.
Overview:
- Goal of the Act to create jobs, economic growth through the promotion of new technology focusing on reducing production and consumption of regulated HFCs (pg 1)
- Regulated substances (listed pg 7) can be amended on the basis of scientific evidence
- Monitoring and reporting requirements on the production, import and export levels set out in Section 5. Reports will include quantity of regulated substances (at disaggregated level)
o produced, imported and exported
o reclaimed
o destroyed
o used and entirely consumer
o used as process agent
- Report to be set against baselines for production and consumption from 2011-2013 period. The determination for these baselines is set out in Section 6
- Implementation of allowances (quotas) for the production and consumption of these regulated substances (pg 14-15) in order to facilitate a phase down of these substances.
- Section 9 sets out the management of these substances and outlines the mechanism by which the Administrator can implement regulations to control the process or activity regarding the servicing, repair, disposal or installation of equipment that involves a regulated substance, substitute for regulated substance or reclaiming of regulated substance or substitute.
- Goal of this is fundamentally to increase opportunities for reclaim or regulated substances used as refrigerants
- A recovered regulated substance used as a refrigerant needs to be reclaimed before it can be sold or transferred unless it is being sold or transferred for the purposes of reclamation or destruction (pg 25)
- Section 11 outlines the international requirements, namely that no one subject to the act can trade or transfer a production allowance or export a regulated substance to a foreign country unless that country has also undertaken HFC phasedown measures of similar requirements as contained in this Act.
- Act stands alongside Clean Air Act
