Topics | Umweltbundesamt

As a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Germany is required to elaborate annual emission inventories, including for fluorinated greenhouse gases. read more

Sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆), which has a very high global warming potential, is used for insulation and arc quenching in switchgear. SF₆ emissions have been successfully reduced thanks to a voluntary industry commitment. Alternative products to substitute SF₆ in various applications have been developed. read more

Commercial refrigeration systems are used to keep goods fresh and deep-frozen, especially foodstuffs, but also flowers and pharmaceutical products. They are installed, for example, in specialist food retailers and in catering applications. Nowadays, climate-friendly solutions with natural refrigerants are available for all system technologies. read more

Regulation (EU) 2024/573 on fluorinated greenhouse gases applies since 11 March 2024, repealing Regulation (EU) 517/2014. read more

Buses are eco-friendly means of transport, nevertheless their climate performance can be increased still further. Today’s mobile air conditioning systems in buses still use the refrigerant tetrafluoroethane (R134a), a greenhouse gas with a 1,430 times higher impact to the climate than carbon dioxide. There is a climate friendly alternative: Some city buses already use CO2 air conditioning systems. read more

An EU directive has banned the use of fluorinated greenhouse gases with global warming potential exceeding 150 in mobile air conditioning systems since January 2011. CO2 used as a refrigerant is an alternative. An UBA official car had used a CO2 mobile air conditioning system from 2009 to 2017. Since October 2016, first cars with CO2 air conditioning systems have been offered. read more

Transport of refrigerated and chilled products like food is on the rise worldwide. Whether goods are transported on the road, by train or ship, the cooling temperatures must be maintained exactly. Many transport refrigeration units contain fluorinated refrigerants acting as greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These substances need to be replaced by refrigerants having less impact on the climate. read more

According to the VDMA, around 36,500 centralized refrigeration systems and over 540,000 plug-in refrigeration units were installed in German supermarkets, discounter, hypermarkets and other food retail stores in 2017. Fluorinated refrigerants are still the most common in existing systems. read more