Document gbdpe89JQVBebMv9KjNaZJQV9

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans T immermans Head of Cabinet Brussels, 26/4/2022 Dear Mr , I would like to thank you for your letter of 21 March 2022, as well as your interest in EU fluorinated gas policies. Based on the findings of the Commission's evaluation of the current F-gas Regulation, we can indeed observe that there has been a general and clear shift to the use of alternatives to SF6 in electrical transmission equipment. Continuing and accelerating this shift to making electrical transmission and distribution more climate-friendly and, where already possible, free of fluorinated gases across all voltage levels and types of switchgear is among the key objectives of the new proposal for a revised Regulation on fluorinated greenhouse gases (COM(2022) 150 final)1 on 5 April 2022. Since the most climate-friendly alternatives are not yet able to cover all niche applications of all switchgear types, the Commission is proposing a cascading approach - F-gases used must have a global warming potential (GWP) below 10 and only if that is not feasible, gases with a GWP up to 2000 are allowed. Should the latter also not be feasible, then any type of mixture can be used. The infeasibility would have to be backed up by evidence. The advantage of this approach is that everywhere where a climate-friendly alternative is available, it must be used. In all niche applications where this may not yet be the case today, it would become mandatory as soon as a suitable technology is available on the market. As regards Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), the relevant technical assessments and eventual policy measures are subject to on-going discussions under the REACH legislation. Yours sincerely, CEO, Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V @duh.de 1 https://ec.europa.eu/clima/system/files/2022-04/f-gases_proposal_en.pdf (OHFWURQLFCDoOOm\mVLJisQsHioGnReQuropenne/Europese8C7o&mmisLsQieD,F1F0R4UG9DBQrFuHxZelLlWeKs/$BUrWuLsFsOHel, BREIL&GRIPQPULEV/VBLREQL'GHIFLVL-RTQel(.8+ 1 Office : - Tel. Direct line