Refresher: EPA Phaseout Schedule

Aug. 15, 2011
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows the U.S. schedule for phasing out its production and consumption of HCFCs in accordance with the terms of the Montreal Protocol.

As a Party to the Montreal Protocol, the U.S. must incrementally decrease HCFC consumption and production, culminating in a complete HCFC phaseout in 2030. The major milestones that are upcoming for developed countries are a reduction in 2010 to at least 75 percent below baseline HCFC levels and a reduction in 2015 to at least 90% below baseline. Section 605 of the Clean Air Act sets the U.S. phaseout targets for Class II substances.

In 1993, the EPA established the phaseout framework and and the "worst-first" approach that focused first on HCFC-22, HCFC-141b, and HCFC-142b because these three HCFCs have the highest ODPs of all HCFCs. To meet the required 2004 reduction, the EPA phased out HCFC-141b in 2003 and froze the production and consumption of HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b.

In 2009, EPA reduced the production and import of virgin HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b and limited the use of those compounds to meet the Montreal Protocol's 2010 milestones. The link below provides the timeframe:

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http://1.usa.gov/EPAphaseoutschedule