Imagine a greenhouse gas so potent that a single kilogram can trap as much heat as 23,500 kilograms of carbon dioxide. That gas exists – it is called sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), and it is just one member of a family known as fluorinated gases, or F-gases. These synthetic chemicals hide in your fridge, your car’s air conditioning, the heat pump warming your house and the electrical switchgear powering your street. They make up a tiny fraction of Ireland’s emissions, but atom for atom, they are the most powerful greenhouse gases on Earth.
F-gases is the collective term for four groups of synthetic greenhouse gases: hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). Unlike carbon dioxide or methane, none of these occur naturally. They were invented for specific industrial applications – as refrigerants, electrical insulators, cleaning agents and manufacturing gases. Their global warming potential (GWP) ranges from a few hundred times that of CO2 for common HFCs to tens of thousands for SF6 and some PFCs.
🌿 Where F-Gases Come From
The biggest source of F-gas emissions in Ireland and across the EU is the refrigeration and air conditioning sector. When fridges, freezers, commercial cold rooms and air conditioning units leak, they release HFCs into the atmosphere. HFCs were introduced in the 1990s as replacements for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which were destroying the ozone layer. The swap solved one problem but created another – HFCs do not damage ozone, but they are powerful greenhouse gases.
Other sources include:
- 🌿 Heat pumps – most heat pumps installed in Ireland today use R32 refrigerant, an HFC with a GWP of 675. The EU’s revised F-gas Regulation will require new monobloc heat pumps to use refrigerants with a GWP below 150 from 2027, pushing the market toward propane (R290, GWP of approximately 0) and other low-GWP alternatives
- 🌿 Electrical switchgear – high-voltage equipment uses SF6 as an insulator because of its exceptional electrical properties. SF6 has a GWP of 23,500 and can persist in the atmosphere for over 3,000 years
- 🌿 Semiconductor manufacturing – chip fabrication uses PFCs and NF3 for etching and cleaning silicon wafers. In Ireland, this is a growing source as the semiconductor sector expands
- 🌿 Fire protection, foams and medical inhalers – smaller but measurable contributions to the total
🌿 Why F-Gases Matter in Ireland
F-gas emissions in Ireland reached 0.58 Mt CO2eq in 2024, accounting for 1.1% of the national total according to the EPA’s provisional greenhouse gas inventory. That sounds small next to agriculture’s 38% or transport’s 21.7%, but two things make F-gases significant. First, they have risen 16-fold from just 0.04 Mt in 1990 as HFC-based equipment has replaced older ozone-depleting systems. Second, F-gas emissions in 2024 were 2.7% higher than in 2023, driven by increased PFC and NF3 use in the semiconductor industry – a sector Ireland is actively growing.
The EPA projects F-gas emissions will fall to around 0.61-0.62 Mt CO2eq by 2030, a reduction of 16-17% on 2022 levels, largely due to the shift away from high-GWP refrigerants in vehicles and commercial systems. However, Ireland’s ambitious heat pump rollout creates a counterbalancing pressure. The EPA’s projections show that under the higher-ambition scenario, where 36% more heat pumps are deployed annually by 2030, F-gas emissions are marginally higher than in the baseline – because each heat pump contains refrigerant that can leak. The saving grace is the shift from R410A (GWP 2,088) to R32 (GWP 675) and eventually to propane (R290), which limits the net impact despite the growing number of units.
🌿 The EU F-Gas Regulation
The EU has been regulating F-gases since 2006. The original F-gas Regulation was replaced in 2015 by Regulation (EU) No. 517/2014, which introduced a phased reduction (phase-down) of HFCs placed on the EU market. In February 2024, the EU adopted a much more ambitious revision – Regulation (EU) 2024/573 – which took effect on 11 March 2024. This is the world’s first legislation to mandate a complete phase-out of HFCs by 2050.
Key provisions of the 2024 revision include:
- 🌿 A steeper HFC phase-down schedule targeting an 80% reduction by 2030 and full phase-out by 2050
- 🌿 Bans on high-GWP equipment from 2025 onwards, including commercial refrigeration using gases with a GWP of 150 or more
- 🌿 A new requirement for refrigerants in monobloc heat pumps and air conditioning to have a GWP below 150 from 2027
- 🌿 Inclusion of HFCs used in medical metered-dose inhalers within the quota system from 2025
- 🌿 A centralised F-gas Portal for tracking quotas, registration and enforcement across all member states
In Ireland, the EPA is the competent authority for enforcing the Regulation. Businesses operating refrigeration, air conditioning or heat pump equipment must ensure regular leak checks by certified personnel, maintain records for at least five years, and use only properly labelled and registered gases. F-Gas Registration Ltd (FGR) handles company certification in Ireland.
🌿 What This Means for Homeowners
If you have a heat pump installed under an SEAI grant, it almost certainly uses R32 refrigerant. Your existing system is not affected by the new Regulation – the phase-down targets manufacturers and new installations, not systems already in use. You can continue to operate, service and refill your heat pump with R32 for its full lifespan.
However, if you are buying a new heat pump from 2027 onwards, you will likely see more systems using propane (R290) or other ultra-low-GWP refrigerants. These systems require slightly different installation practices – propane is flammable, so minimum distances from windows and doors may apply – but they deliver comparable efficiency with a fraction of the climate impact. The shift also means lower long-term running costs as F-gas quota restrictions push up the price of traditional HFC refrigerants.
🌿 Frequently Asked Questions
🌿 What are fluorinated gases and why are they a climate problem?
Fluorinated gases (F-gases) are synthetic chemicals used mainly as refrigerants, electrical insulators and in manufacturing. They include HFCs, PFCs, SF6 and NF3. Although they make up just 1.1% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions, their global warming potential is hundreds to thousands of times greater than CO2 per kilogram. A single charge of SF6 in a piece of electrical switchgear, if released, can have the same warming effect as several tonnes of carbon dioxide.
🌿 Will the F-gas Regulation affect my existing heat pump?
No. The EU F-gas Regulation (2024/573) targets new equipment placed on the market, not systems already installed. If your heat pump uses R32 refrigerant, you can continue to operate and service it throughout its lifetime. New GWP limits of 150 for monobloc heat pumps apply from 2027, but these only affect what manufacturers can sell from that date forward.
🌿 How do F-gases relate to the ozone layer?
F-gases were developed specifically because they do not damage the ozone layer, unlike the CFCs and HCFCs they replaced. The 1987 Montreal Protocol successfully phased out ozone-depleting substances, but the HFCs adopted as substitutes turned out to be powerful greenhouse gases. The 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol addressed this by committing countries to an 80-85% reduction in HFC use globally by the late 2040s. The EU’s 2024 F-gas Regulation goes further, targeting complete phase-out by 2050.
🌿 Why are Ireland’s F-gas emissions rising despite EU regulations?
Ireland’s overall F-gas trend has been downward since 2014 thanks to the switch to lower-GWP refrigerants in vehicles and commercial systems. However, the 2024 figure of 0.58 Mt CO2eq was 2.7% higher than 2023, driven by increased PFC and NF3 use in semiconductor manufacturing – a sector where Ireland is a major European hub. Heat pump deployment also adds some F-gas load, though the transition from R410A to R32 and eventually to propane limits the growth. The EPA expects overall F-gas emissions to decline 16-17% by 2030.