Pollutant Information: HFCs
About HFCs
Category: Greenhouse gases
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) contribute to climate change due to their positive radiative forcing effect. Hydrofluorocarbons have a range of global warming potentials (GWP), which are much higher than that of carbon. However, the small quantities emitted mean that despite the high GWP values of the individual gases, the total contribution to GWP weighted greenhouse gas emissions in the UK is small.
HFC emissions can arise from the manufacture of halocarbon chemicals including HFCs themselves, and from the use of HFCs for various purposes. Total emissions of HFCs have decreased by 37% over 1995-2020. Although there has been a large reduction in emissions from halocarbon production since 1998, this has been offset increases in HFC use as replacements for HCFCs and other ozone depleting substances. However, tighter regulations on the use of HFCs are controlling the increase in emissions from their use. Refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) use is the largest source and contributed almost all (99.8%) of the total HFC emissions in 2020. Emissions from HFC use in RAC arise due to leakage from refrigeration and air conditioning equipment during its lifetime, in their manufacture and during the recovery of the refrigerants on decommissioning.
» View and Download HFCs emission summary data
Time series graph
Notable events
| Start year | End year | Sector | Information | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 2018 | Production Processes | F-Gas manufacture (2E1, HFC by product emissions from HCFC manufacture) closures and installation of abatement equipment at manufacturing plant. | Decrease in emissions |
| 1998 | 2014 | Halocarbons Use | Growth in emissions from HFC use in Air Conditioning and refrigeration and aerosols and meter dose inhalers as ozone depleting HCFCs are replaced with HFC. | Increase in emissions |