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Climate and Environment

Greenhouse gases in grocery freezers are more powerful than carbon. The EPA now aims to slash their use.

Agency’s final rule will slash the use and production of hydrofluorocarbons — often found to be leaking from U.S. supermarket freezers — by 85 percent over the next 15 years

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September 23, 2021 at 6:42 p.m. EDT
Customers shop in the frozen foods section of a Costco store in the U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency will establish a program to cut the use and production of chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons by 85 percent over the next 15 years. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg News)
5 min

The Biden administration finalized its first new climate rule Thursday, slashing the use of powerful greenhouse gases widely used in home refrigerators and air conditioners and often found to be leaking from U.S. supermarket freezers.

The regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency establishes a program to cut the use and production of chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons by 85 percent over the next 15 years.