Poli­cy­mak­ing: The Aus­tralian Re­fri­ger­a­tion As­so­ci­ation stirs up the Fed­eral De­part­ment of the En­vir­on­ment

The Australian Refrigeration Association (ARA) is preparing its third submission to the Federal Department of the Environment regarding the Review of the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gases Management Act (OPSGG MA). In its previous 2 submissions, ARA was supported by over 70 of the leading cooling and refrigeration organizations. Now ARA is calling upon the public to show its support for the third submission. The submissions focuses on the reduced use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants. ARA estimates that the transition to natural refrigerants may reduce the cost of HVACR services in Australia by up to $10 B per annum, and reduce national GHG emissions by 7%. ARA is encouraging individuals to write a unique response about why they believe the Federal Department of Environment should prioritize this thematic. The key recommendations include: Banning the use of HFC’s in new vapour compression systems with a charge >5 kg by 2025. Compulsory use of low GWP refrigerants in all new vapour compression systems with a charge <0.150 kg by 2025. The introduction of a series of mechanisms to deliver minimum energy efficiency benchmarking, skills based refrigeration licensing (as opposed to refrigerant based licensing), alignment of WH&S legislation making state and federal WH&S legislation nationally consistent.