Court rules against required replacement of HFCs in existing equipment

In early April, the Washington D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated parts of a 2016 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule banning the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) in commercial refrigeration. “Seeing no other jurisdictional issues, we vacate the 2016 rule only to the extent that it requires manufacturers to replace HFCs that were previously and lawfully installed as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances,” the Court’s panel said. The court confirmed an earlier decision that HFCs are an unacceptable substitute for ozone-depleting substances in new equipment.