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The Environmental Protection Agency is establishing a new program aimed at better managing, recycling and reusing hydrofluorocarbons from large refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment (Law360, subscription).

What’s going on: “Under the final Emissions Reduction and Reclamation Rule, the EPA imposed new requirements for repairing leaking equipment, installing automatic leak detection systems, using hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, to service existing equipment and minimizing HFC releases from fire suppression equipment, among other things, the agency said in a press release Monday.”

• The regulation, which the agency previously proposed last October, also sets a limit on the amount of new HFCs allowable in reclaimed HFC refrigerants and creates “alternative standards” for used refrigerants.
• These measures, the EPA says, will help the U.S. complete an 85% HFC phasedown by 2036, as mandated by the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020.

A flurry of activity: Since the passage of the AIM Act, the Biden administration has taken several steps related to HFCs. These have included:

• A March 2023 “enforcement crackdown” on illegal HFC imports;
• A July 2023 final rule mandating HFC use 40% below historical baseline levels through 2027; and
• An enforcement alert this month intended to stop illegal HFC imports.

An accompanying rule: The EPA also finalized its “Technology Transitions Rule, which requires manufacturers and importers of refrigeration, air conditioning and heating products that use HFCs with higher global warming potential to switch to alternatives between January 2025 and January 2028.”