Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is considering new HFC restrictions that could include measures targeting pre-charged equipment.
The DCCEEW will publish the draft standards in September, which the public can provide feedback on. Those interested in sharing their opinion can sign up for the IChEMS mailing list by writing to ichems.enquiry@dcceew.gov.au. The updated standards are scheduled to be finalized July 2027 and will apply alongside existing HFC phase-down regulations.
Refrigerants in Australia are regulated under the country’s 1989 Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management (OPSGGM) Act. However, refrigerants are also regulated as industrial chemicals in Australia, which makes them also subject to its Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management Standard (IChEMS), and it is through IChEMS that these new standards will be set.
“The IChEMS is a modern, efficient policy process where measures are assigned for around 1,000 industrial chemicals each year, whereas changes to the OPSGGM Act can take many months or years,” Paul Taylor, Director of Atmospheric Chemicals Policy at the DCCEEW, told NaturalRefrigerants.com. “The standards set under the IChEMS can be integrated into the existing regulatory framework under the OPSGGM Act.”
Taylor said working through IChEMS provides the opportunity to set standards for HFOs, which are not regulated under the OPSGGM Act. The DCCEEW told NaturalRefrigerants.com that draft standards are being prepared for HFCs and HFOs. It has not shared specifics regarding the changes it’s considering other than to say that “possible measures may include restrictions on what certain HFCs can be used for, including in pre-charged equipment.” The DCCEEW said its goals include ensuring Australia “doesn’t becoming a dumping ground for equipment containing HFCs” as well as “providing regulatory certainty on how HFOs will be managed going forward.”
Targeting pre-charged equipment
Pre-charged equipment could be in the crosshairs. It’s been a major contributor to the dominance of HFCs in Australia’s refrigerant bank, which is the total mass of refrigerants in installed HVAC&R systems and car air conditioners. HFCs are 95% of the bank as of 2022, and the most common HFCs in the bank have GWP values ranging from 771 (R32) to 4,728 (R404A).
Under Australia’s current regulations, the refrigerants in pre-charged equipment are attributed to their country of origin. This has contributed to the sustained use of R410A in pre-charged stationary air-conditioning systems, although sales of this equipment type have fallen in recent years as R32 systems hit the market.
This approach to regulating pre-charged equipment has made Australia a major market for new cars with refrigerant systems charged with R134a (GWP 1,530). The refrigerant is still present in the commercial HVAC sector, too: 225 chillers imported to Australia in 2022 were charged with 55 metric tons of R134a.
