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  • Banned F-gases

Banned F-gases

There are two primary bans related to the use of fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) and ozone-depleting substances (ODS). These measures are crucial for reducing environmental impact and combating climate change.

  1. 2020 ban on High-GWP F-gases: This ban prohibits the use of virgin F-gases with a global warming potential (GWP) of 2500 or above for servicing or maintaining existing refrigeration equipment with a charge size of 40 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or more.
  2. General ban on ODS: The use of ozone-depleting substances, such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), is mostly banned in the UK. This includes substances like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), halons, methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, and methyl bromide.

The bans do not apply to:

  • Equipment used for military purposes.
  • Equipment used to cool products below -50°C.
  • Small air conditioning / refrigeration units (with a charge size of 40 tonnes or less of CO2 equivalent).

Regulations

These bans are enforced through various regulations, including:

  1. Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/310)
  2. Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/168)

These regulations were amended via the Ozone-Depleting Substances and Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 and continue to function following EU Exit.

Our role

SEPA and Scottish local authorities are working with Scottish suppliers of F-gases and equipment, as well as companies that maintain F-gas refrigeration products, to monitor compliance.

SEPA can use enforcement notices to bring about compliance and can issue significant civil penalties (up to £200,000), for non-compliance, so it is important that you understand the F-gas obligations for your business.

You are likely to be affected by the ban if you are:

  • A small to medium-sized retail outlet with mid to small-sized fridges.
  • A large supermarket.
  • A user of refrigeration units that contain F-gases or ODS.

Complying with the ban

The ban will apply to many commonly used refrigeration or freezer systems currently in use by businesses across Scotland. The types of units affected by the ban include, but are not limited to:

  • Small hermetically sealed systems. Examples include ice-cream freezers, bottle coolers, stand-alone retail displays that typically contain between 0.1 and 0.5kg of refrigerant.
  • Condensing units. Examples include commercial display cabinets, blast chillers and freezers used in small shops, convenience stores and food service. These are medium sized systems with one or two refrigerated display units cooled by a condensing unit typically containing between 2 and 10kg of refrigerant.
  • Central pack systems. Used in supermarkets and other large stores. They typically contain more than 100kg of refrigerant.

You can check which category your system falls into and which refrigerant it uses with your refrigeration manufacturer or certified maintenance technician.

Your refrigeration equipment might already use F-gas that is below the threshold. If so, you can continue to top up your fridges or freezers as usual, with no changes required. However, if your fridges or freezers contain an F-gas with a high global warming potential and you are affected by the ban, you have several options:

  1. Top up with recycled or reclaimed F-gas of the same type: Be aware that supplies of recycled or reclaimed F-gas may decrease over time. This option is only available until 2030.
  2. Top up with a less harmful F-gas: If your equipment allows, you can switch to a less harmful F-gas. You can speak to your refrigerant provider about this.
  3. Upgrade your equipment: Consider upgrading your equipment to allow it to use a less harmful F-gas.
  4. Purchase new equipment: Think about buying new equipment that complies with the ban and uses F-gases with lower global warming potential.

The Scottish Government SME Loan Scheme is available for the installation of energy efficient measures including refrigeration. For more information, and to determine if you are eligible, visit Resource Efficient Scotland.

Further information and guidance

Full details of the ban and useful guidance if you believe that this ban may affect your business, are available on GOV.UK:

We recommend that you also visit NetRegs where you will find further information and a self-assessment tool to enable you to check if the ban will affect your business.

Further information is also available in our F-gas regulation business guidance – 2020 service ban question and answers section below.

The European Union Regulation (517/2014) on fluorinated greenhouse gases will be retained in UK law after we leave the EU.

This means all the requirements of the EU F-gas Regulation, including the service ban, will continue to apply in the UK in any EU exit scenario.

This particular ban applies to these HFCs as these are some of the most harmful global warming gases and are widespread in their use. However the ban is part of a range of measures to reduce the use of HFCs in general and combat climate change.

Other measures include the phase down in total use of HFCs by 79% by 2030, along with other bans and restrictions that prevent the use of HFCs and other F gases with high global warming potential from being used.

For information on all the bans, refer to GOV.UK guidance: Bans on f-gas in new equipment

Hermetically sealed systems are ones that have been factory-assembled and only contain permanent connections that are welded or brazed together to seal the system. Examples include most types of equipment that are of the "plug-in" type such as domestic fridges and freezers or units like an ice-cream freezer.

Your refrigeration system should be labelled to say what refrigerant is in it and its charge size. You could also refer to the instruction manual or technical specification to get the charge size. If in doubt, contact the supplier, manufacturer or an F-gas certified engineer. Once you know the charge size, multiply it by the GWP of the F-gas used in the system to work out the charge in CO2 equivalents.

For more information see the GOV.UK guidance: Calculate the carbon dioxide equivalent quantity of an f-gas

No, you can carry on using it. However if it needs fixing or servicing, your engineer won’t be able to use banned gas to service or repair it therefore you need to be prepared for if that happens.

The options available are listed in the leaflet: Refrigeration and freezer equipment: Changes to refrigerant gases that can be used (pdf 332 kB)