by Jack McEvoy

The EPA's proposed rule would crack down on the manufacturing and importing of goods containing HFCs, which would restrict the use of HFCs in refrigeration units, air conditioning systems and heat pump equipment starting in 2025, according to an agency press release. In accordance with the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, a global climate treaty that the Senate ratified in September, the agency intends to reduce the production and consumption of HFCs by 85 percent by 2036.

"With this latest proposal under the bipartisan AIM Act, EPA continues to advance President Biden's ambitious climate agenda while investing in American innovation and ingenuity," EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement.

The EPA referred to HFCs as “super-pollutants” as the chemicals’ can have a “climate impact” that is hundreds to thousands of times worse than carbon dioxide due to the gases’ ability to rapidly deplete the ozone layer and raise global temperatures. HFCs represent around 1 percent of all greenhouse gases that enter the earth’s atmosphere, according to the Climate & Clean Air Coalition.

The EPA said that consumers and manufacturers could save up to $8 billion from 2025 through 2050 due to the proposed rule’s ability to improve the energy efficiency of cooling and heating appliances.