On Tuesday, the Trump administration revealed plans to roll back a crucial environmental regulation from the Biden era. This rule currently mandates that businesses like grocery stores, air-conditioning manufacturers, and semiconductor facilities significantly cut their use of certain potent greenhouse gases found in cooling systems.
This proposed rollback by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) threatens to undo what was widely considered a significant bipartisan achievement in climate action. This agreement aimed for a rapid global reduction of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are harmful, man-made chemicals.
It’s important to note that HFCs contribute thousands of times more to global warming than carbon dioxide, making their reduction critical for planetary health.
However, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin argued that the Biden administration’s aggressive target to cut HFC production and consumption by 85 percent by 2036 was too ambitious. He claimed that the swift transition to new refrigerants had led to supply chain issues, leaving many families without essential air conditioning during peak summer heat. This assertion, however, has been contested by the air-conditioning industry itself, which suggests the shortages were not as severe as portrayed.
In a public statement, Zeldin emphasized that this new proposal aims to ensure ‘American refrigerants are affordable, safe, and reliable again,’ suggesting the previous regulations compromised these aspects.
This announcement arrived just before a looming government shutdown, fueled by a budget standoff between President Trump and Democrats. A shutdown would halt all work on new and pending regulations, potentially postponing Zeldin’s broader agenda to dismantle numerous climate protections established during the Biden administration.
Global efforts to eliminate HFCs are projected to prevent up to half a degree Celsius of global warming by century’s end, a significant step in mitigating severe climate change impacts. Ironically, it was President Trump himself who, during his first term, signed legislation instructing the EPA to gradually phase out this very climate pollutant. This directive was part of a large Covid-19 relief package enacted late in his presidency.
The Biden administration’s HFC regulations, crafted to implement this law, aimed to remove the equivalent of 4.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050—a volume comparable to three years’ worth of emissions from the entire electricity sector.
Unlike the contentious debates surrounding fossil fuels, HFC reduction strategies have historically garnered wide bipartisan support, uniting Democrats, Republicans, industry stakeholders, and environmental groups. As other nations transition away from HFCs, the existing rule was seen by many as vital for safeguarding the immense $206-billion cooling industry, ensuring fair competition and fostering the development of environmentally friendlier alternatives.
Francis Dietz, Vice President of Public Affairs for the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, affirmed, ‘We liked the rule that came out at the end of the Biden administration.’
Dietz further challenged the Trump administration’s claims regarding severe shortages of HFC alternatives. He clarified that while a brief shortage occurred earlier this year, it was quickly resolved. He warned that delaying compliance could introduce instability for U.S. manufacturers, who have already invested heavily in retooling production and establishing new supply chains to meet the original deadlines.
He concluded, ‘We wanted certainty, and we had it. Now, potentially, we don’t.’
Conversely, numerous grocery store operators expressed satisfaction with the Trump administration’s new plan, having actively lobbied for these changes.
Leslie G. Sarasin, President and CEO of the Food Industry Association, stated that the Biden rule enforced ‘significant and unrealistic compliance timelines.’ He believes the Trump plan will deliver ‘intended environmental benefits without placing unnecessary and costly burdens on the food industry.’
Specifically, the new proposal would grant the residential air-conditioning, retail food refrigeration, cold storage warehouse, and semiconductor manufacturing sectors an additional five years to transition to alternative, climate-friendlier coolants.
Environmental advocacy groups argue that while these delays offer minimal benefit to businesses, they could have devastating, long-term consequences for the climate.
David Doniger, Senior Strategic Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate and clean energy program, commented, ‘This is not going to make potato chips or computer chips any cheaper.’
He emphasized that HFCs are ‘extremely powerful greenhouse gases’ whose continued presence in the atmosphere for a longer duration will exacerbate warming.
The public will have a 45-day window to submit comments once the proposal is officially published in the Federal Register. The EPA has also committed to holding a virtual public hearing to discuss the plans before any final decisions are made.