Europe gets ready for alternative refrigerants.

With the introduction of implementation measures, the European Union is paving the way to smooth the transition to more environmentally friendly technologies for Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC). An EU Directive to reduce emissions from MAC, approved last April, sets out the framework and targets to be achieved. Now, the European Institutions are working to provide guidance on how to achieve these targets, defining more specific criteria that the alternatives to current systems should meet. The European Commission, EU executive body, has launched a first proposal on these implementation measures. They are currently under discussion. Background The so-called MAC Directive is an EU initiative to reduce emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride, which are powerful greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol. It was finally adopted as EU legislation in May 2006, and will be implemented by all 25 EU Member States in the coming years. Among others, the Directive includes a phase out of current refrigerant HFC-134a in air conditioning systems of new vehicles starting from 2011 until 2017.