WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 20, 2026) – NRDC sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today over the agency’s decision to roll back restrictions on the use of hydrofluorocarbons by grocery stores and other industries.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are used as coolants in refrigerators, air conditioners, and other equipment. In 2020, Congress authorized the EPA to issue regulations to transition businesses away from these planet-warming chemicals. The EPA’s rollback does the opposite by prolonging their use, a move that will increase costs for American consumers and worsen the climate crisis.

The following is a statement from David Doniger, Senior Strategist for Climate at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“It’s hard to imagine more senseless deregulation. This rollback will raise grocery prices for struggling families, hurt industries trying to do the right thing, and worsen climate disasters. Three for three, all wrong.

“NRDC is joining industry to sue the EPA over this pointless step backward.

“Despite the Trump administration’s claims, delaying the shift away from these super-pollutants will raise prices across the board, saddling American families with higher grocery bills and more expensive air conditioner repairs. At a time when millions of Americans are feeling the costs of climate-fueled heat and drought, this action will increase the pollution that’s fueling the climate crisis.

“And to top it off, the EPA’s move rewards industry laggards and leaves the companies that have invested in next generation coolants and equipment completely in the lurch. Our lawsuit is aligned with the industries that make and market refrigeration and cooling products, which fully back the HFC phasedown.”

Background:

HFCs are potent climate-warming chemicals used primarily in heating and cooling equipment and are among the fastest-growing climate pollutants in the U.S. and the world. HFCs are called super pollutants because they have hundreds to thousands of times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide

In 2020, Congress passed, and President Trump signed, bipartisan legislation known as the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act to phase down HFCs in the United States. The AIM Act aligns the U.S. with the global HFC phasedown taking place under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which President Biden ratified in 2022 with industry and environmental support and overwhelming Senate approval

In 2023, the EPA issued the Technology Transitions Rule under the AIM Act to facilitate industry’s transition away from HFCs and toward alternative refrigerants. The rule set deadlines for businesses such as supermarkets to purchase refrigeration equipment using climate friendlier refrigerants when building new stores or replacing existing systems. The industry largely supported this action

In May 2026, the Trump administration’s EPA finalized a rule extending those deadlines by five or more years. The rule also raised the applicable “global warming potential” limits for refrigeration equipment sold in the interim, allowing businesses to purchase long-lived new equipment that uses more climate-destructive HFCs.

Today, NRDC is suing the EPA over this rollback in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Five industry groups have also filed similar lawsuits over this rollback last month. They include: the Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI), the Plumbing, Heating, Cooling Contractors National Association (PHCC), and the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA), the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), and the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy.

See this new NRDC blog for more details.