FETA president welcomes F-gases legislation
The passing of legislation by the European Parliament to control the emissions of HFCs for air-conditioning and refrigeration applications has been welcomed by the president of the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations, Neil Afram. The legislation recognises the importance of containment and handling to control emissions of these F-gases from such equipment and was passed overwhelmingly by 476 votes, with 46 against and 25 abstentions. Neil Afram welcomed the final outcome, following much controversy which could have seen the use of these gases banned entirely, as a ‘workable regulation that we can move forward with, despite the hypocrisy of some politicians’. He described the input by the European Partnership for Energy & the Environment in arriving at the new regulations as an excellent example of transparency. The legislation follows on from support by the Conciliation Committee of the European Union for the role of containment and handling to control the emissions of F-gases. Neil Afram criticised protests by green and leftist MPs in Strasbourg that high-level policy groups such as those recently established to advise on competitiveness, energy and the environment are unbalanced and dominated by industry and that including MEPs in their membership threatens constitutional confusion. He argues that confusion was dispelled by sensible attitudes from EPEE. They included explaining the options that have been available — for several decades. EPEE also argued the case for workable legislation and regulation and explained that a total ban on F-gases would lead to millions of redundancies. EPEE also warned that a unilateral decision by the European would create chaos and confusion.
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