New rules for F-Gases + DSA in Austria + Ukrainian grain on the way + Oil alliance OPEC+ • Europe.Table

New rules for F-gases: What the EU Commission plans
DSA: A lot of uncertainty remains in Austria
OPEC+ hardly increases oil production
Scholz: Gas turbine for Nord Stream 1 can be delivered at any time
Fighting the drought with wastewater
Pelosi has ‘opened the door to Taiwan much wider’
First Ukrainian grain on its way to Lebanon
David Ryfisch – watcher of German climate policy

Dear reader,

Fluorinated greenhouse gases, so-called F-gases, have a much higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide, but have not yet been regulated as strictly. The EU Commission now wants to change this and has proposed stricter guidelines and restrictions. Lukas Scheid has taken a look at the proposal and explains how high the potential savings are.

The implementation of the Digital Services Act poses challenges for all member states. Both Germany and Austria are looking for a coordinator to oversee implementation. In Austria, a solution may now be at hand. But what does this mean for the national Communications Platforms Act? My colleague Falk Steiner has looked into the matter.

In order to increase the reuse of wastewater for agricultural irrigation in drought periods, the EU Commission yesterday published new guidelines. Read more about this in the News section.

At Germanwatch, David Ryfisch heads the International Climate Policy department – a topic that has followed him his entire career. Whether in Ecuador, Brazil, Bonn or Berlin, Ryfisch stands up for the interests of others. We introduce him in today’s Profile

Your
Lisa-Martina Klein

Feature

New rules for F-gases: the EU Commission’s plans

As part of the strategy to reduce industrial and household emissions, the EU Commission has proposed stricter guidelines for fluorinated greenhouse gases. In the debate on how to achieve Europe’s climate targets, F-gases have so far played a minor role. Quite wrongly, because the savings potential is huge.

By
Lukas Scheid

In addition to carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (laughing gas), F-gases also belong to the group of greenhouse gases. As such, they fall under the Paris Agreement, in which the signatory countries agreed to reduce their emissions in order to achieve the 1.5-degree target. And this is absolutely necessary because the climate impact of fluorinated gases is substantial.

Although F-gases account for only 2.5 percent of EU-wide greenhouse gases, according to Environmental Action Germany, their global warming potential is 100 to 24,000 times that of carbon dioxide. The August 2021 IPCC report suggested that F-gas emissions should be cut by 90 percent by 2050 compared to 2015 levels. No easy task because F-gases were originally used to replace other ozone-depleting materials. Now, they have to be replaced themselves.

F-gases are used as coolants in refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and heat pumps. But they are also used in various sprays. Partially fluorinated hydrocarbons (HFCs) make up the bulk of F-gas emissions, but perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluorides (SF6) and nitrogen trifluorides (NF3) are also used in various industrial processes, for example, to insulate transmission lines in the power grid.

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