19 December 2024

Annex 54 Country Report: Austria


National and international regulations aim to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the release of refrigerants into the atmosphere by defining restrictions for refrigerants with high GWP values in certain applications and by limiting the total CO2 equivalent of refrigerants on the market through a phase-down concept. However, currently, most used refrigerants have GWPs with a magnitude of 1000 or even more. While in other sectors like refrigerators or freezers, natural refrigerants like R290 and R600a can easily be used, the situation is different for heat pumps due to higher capacities and higher refrigerant charges. In IEA HPT Annex 54, the potential replacement of conventional (high GWP) refrigerants by so-called Low GWP refrigerants (e.g., R290) and its implications are investigated.