Trump eases curbs on planet-warming gases used in refrigerants

WASHINGTON:

US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the easing of curbs on a group of powerful greenhouse gases that drive climate change and are commonly found in refrigerators and air conditioners.

Republican Trump slammed the "ridiculous" rules introduced by his Democratic predecessor, president Joe Biden, on super-pollutants known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

Trump said the move would reduce the cost of living for US consumers. His approval ratings are plummeting as disruption to oil supplies from the Iran war drives up prices.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said he was "officially terminating the Biden administration's ridiculous regulations imposing costly requirements on refrigerators and air conditioners."

"It's ridiculous, unnecessary and costly and actually makes the machinery worse," the billionaire president added.

Trump's administration is extending deadlines for grocery and other companies to phase out the use of HFCs under a 2023 law, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a statement.

It will also amend a 2024 act so that it exempts all road refrigerant appliances used to transport goods from new leak requirements for HFCs.

Surrounded by company executives as he sat at his Oval Office desk, Trump said there would be "no negative impact" from the changes and that there was "no environmental concern."

The Natural Resources Defense Council was among the environmental groups that begged to differ, calling the move "a lose-lose for the environment and the economy."

"It will harm consumers and the climate and reduce American competitiveness in the global markets emerging for environmentally safer refrigerants and technologies," said the organization's senior strategist for climate, David Doniger.

HFCs were introduced in the 1990s to replace chemicals that had been found to erode the ozone layer, but turned out to be catastrophic for global warming.

EPA chief Lee Zeldin said the actions put the brakes on a "rushed, frantic, reckless sprint" by previous administrations to phase out HFCs.