France has adopted an HFC tax that will enter into force in 2021. A component of the country’s 2019 Finance Bill, the measure uses a 40 per cent income tax discount to encourage companies to make the transition away from HFCs. The measure will also support the adoption of HFC alternatives from now until December 31, 2022. The tax means companies can deduct from their taxable profit an amount equal to 40 per cent of the original value of all HFC-free refrigeration and air conditioning equipment.
“The implementation of a tax on hydrofluorocarbons in 2021 is a real breakthrough on a key theme,” says MP Matthieu Orphelin, one of the early and strongest advocates of the HFC tax in the French Parliament. “It responds to the commitment of the government taken in the July 2017 Climate Plan to limit the use of HFCs, which are powerful greenhouse gases with a global warming potential more than 15,000 times greater than carbon dioxide – and are at the origin of just over 5 per cent of France’s greenhouse gas emissions.”
