ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL CHALLENGES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RULE THAT WEAKENS REGULATION OF HIGHLY POTENT GREENHOUSE GAS

ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL CHALLENGES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RULE THAT WEAKENS REGULATION OF HIGHLY POTENT GREENHOUSE GAS

July 21, 2026

Chicago - Attorney General Kwame Raoul today, as part of a coalition of 19 attorneys general, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), challenging its rule that would weaken regulations designed to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in commercial equipment.

HFCs are chemicals used for refrigeration and cooling that are potent drivers of climate change, trapping up to 10,000 times more heat in the atmosphere than the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. HFCs are among the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions both in the United States and around the world. The EPA's new rule rolls back existing deadlines for industry to move from using HFCs to new types of refrigerants with a much smaller warming effect. The change undermines the EPA's preexisting regulations under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (AIM Act), which were designed to phase out HFCs by approximately 85% by 2036.

"Hydrofluorocarbons are extremely potent greenhouse gases that are widely used, so reducing these emissions is crucial for addressing climate change," Raoul said. "The Trump administration is unlawfully weakening the nation's plan to step down the use of HFCs, which was put in place under the last Trump administration. This illegal action will harm the environment, create uncertainty for businesses, and could cause price increases for consumers at a time when they are already paying higher prices for many essentials."

HFCs are widely used in commercial, residential and mobile cooling systems, such as air conditioning and refrigeration. Once deemed a safer alternative for the environment relative to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which damage the Earth's ozone layer, HFCs were later discovered to pose a major threat to the climate. With greenhouse effects hundreds to thousands of times higher than carbon dioxide over a hundred-year period, HFCs have been projected to contribute up to 0.5 degrees Celsius, or about 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit, to global surface warming by 2100 if they are not controlled.

In December 2020, President Trump signed the bipartisan AIM Act into law. The AIM Act provides a framework for the United States to reduce the production and consumption of HFCs by about 85% by 2036. That law limits production and imports of HFCs in the U.S. to declining amounts of historic baseline levels - 60% today, declining to 30% in 2029, and 15% in 2036.

The law also requires the EPA to help industry transition to a lower supply of these gases by setting limits for sectors with more readily available alternatives to protect costs and supply for sectors that will take longer to transition. The prior Technology Transitions rule required that when specific sectors install new equipment, the equipment uses gases with less greenhouse effect. For example, under the prior Technology Transitions rule, new remote condensing units that are typically used by retailers like supermarkets and convenience stores to refrigerate food were limited to using refrigerants with less greenhouse effect starting Jan. 1, 2026. Under the EPA's rollback, new remote condensing units could use refrigerants with 10 times greater global warming potential until Jan. 1, 2032.

If allowed to move forward, the rule will increase HFC emissions, accelerating the damage already threatening our planet from climate change. For example, climate change makes floods in Illinois more intense and more frequent, such as severe flooding in August 2025 that damaged over 5,500 homes in the Chicagoland area.

By undermining the parallel reduction in HFC supply and demand, the rule also threatens to cause shortages and price spikes in the HFC market that could be passed on to consumers.

In their petition filed today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Attorney General Raoul and the coalition petition the court to review the EPA's new rule because it is contrary to law and the EPA fails to justify its change in position.

Attorney General Raoul is joined in filing the lawsuit by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, along with the City of New York.