GB F Gas Consultation ACRIB responds

Are you an installer, service company, manufacturer, end user? You need to respond to the DEFRA GB HFC phase down consultation because it is likely to have a major effect on your future business:

1. It means that the options for servicing of most existing equipment will be restricted in future – for example 46% of cold stores still operating on HFCs (according to the CCF Cold Chain Report 2026) – as retrofit solutions are not and will not be available.
2. It will affect your customers’ need to plan for investment in new equipment using different refrigerants in future, particularly for existing equipment that could be considered prematurely obsolete as a result.
3. For manufacturers it will affect your future product lines to adapt for different refrigerants.
4. As employers it means you will need to increase your investment in training to ensure your staff can work safely - even though it is not currently mandatory.

ACRIB (which represents various trade associations and professional institutes in the sector) is asking Government to provide better support for information campaigns and training standards to ensure awareness, compliance and safe transition.

Please see these responses from IOR and FETA technical committees - these contain useful detail that will highlight the key issues. Please feel free to adapt your own response from these. The outcomes will be used to shape future legislation for our sector. Take part in this consultation to make the views of the RACHP industry heard. Industry groups will be coordinating a response through ACRIB (Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Industry Board).

The consultation is available at https://consult.defra.gov.uk/fluorinated-gases-and-ozone-depleting-substances-policy-team/f-gas-regulation-in-great-britain/  and will close on 17 December 2025