FRANCE – Emissions of HFCs are mainly from the tertiary / residential sector including refrigeration equipment. The Interprofessional Technical Centre for the Study of Atmospheric Pollution (CITEPA) has released a record of atmospheric emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs) for France.

This study, financially supported by the Ministry of Ecology (MEDDE) focuses on the overall 13% reduction in GHG emissions during the period from 1990 to 2012. France has reached the objective it set between 2008 and 2012 according to the Kyoto Protocol. CITEPA however mentions a significant increase of HFC emissions of more than 350% over the last 20 years.

According to this organization, the issue of HFC comes mainly from the residential / tertiary sector, with emissions from this accounting for 53% of total emissions. The manufacturing industry is in second place with a rate of 24% and road transport with 18%. 4% of all emissions comes from other modes of transport.

This issue of HFCs is lower for the agriculture / forestry sector and the field of energy conversion with only 1% for each sector. In 1990 the emission of HFC came from the manufacturing sector. Commercial and domestic refrigeration are the main source of this issue in the residential / tertiary sector. The use of the compound R 134a since 1993 is behind this strong growth of HFC emissions. It is known that the production and use of CFCs are banned by the Montreal Protocol in 1993.

The emission of HFC is mainly caused by the increasing use of automotive air conditioning in the road transport sector. Significant growth has been recorded since 1993. This increase is mainly caused by the replacement of CFCs by HFC-134a compound and the widespread use of air conditioning in cars.
Observers like to draw attention to the rise of 350% of the emission of HFCs. This increase would be small compared to the emission of CO2 in the atmosphere, which has an impact on global warming and destroys the ozone layer.

About CITEPA

CITEPA is an organization responsible for studies and evaluations on releases of pollutants and greenhouse gases in the air. This organization currently has about 80 members. It includes institutional, economic actors and associations. It includes the manufacturing, professional federations and unions, producers and distributors of energy, automobile manufacturers, eco-industries, consulting firms, research organizations and the assessment of air quality associations and laboratories evaluation.