The European member states have voted on banning the most common type of carbon offsets involving the industrial gas HFC-23 from the EU emissions trading scheme. While BeyondHFCs welcomes the willingness to put an end to the misuse of the HFC-23 carbon trading, we deeply regret the date of entry into force of the ban, pushed back to May 2013, opening the door to another 30 million to 40 million extra offsets to be used for environmentally doubtful projects. 

“It is an important step towards redirecting carbon funds more meaningfully. However, giving in into the industry lobby and pushing the deadline to May 2013 at the cost of the global climate is irresponsible”, says Christianna Papazahariou, head of the campaign BeyondHFCs. 

BeyondHFCs hopes that thanks to the ban on financing the destruction of HFC-23 with EU carbon credits, Phase III of the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2013-2020, will fund more effective projects such as the large-scale introduction of the natural refrigerants CO2, ammonia and hydrocarbons in the heating and cooling sectors of least developed countries. This would not only help cutting the emissions from the ozone depleting and very potent global warming gases that are currently still broadly used in these countries, but could at the same time be tied to investments in energy efficiency and renewables.   

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