Marking World Ozone Day: How LIFE drives climate-friendly innovation

International efforts to protect the ozone layer by phasing out ozone-depleting substances have made big strides in the four decades since the Montreal Protocol came into force. Since 2016, another group of gases has been included under the Montreal Protocol: Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), powerful fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) used in air conditioning, refrigeration, and heat pump equipment. While safer for the ozone layer, HFCs trap thousands of times more heat than carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, contributing significantly to global warming. The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol introduced a global phase-down of HFCs. The aim of cutting their use by over 80% in the next 30 years could prevent up to 0.5 °C of climate warming, with countries following gradually declining targets.

As the LIFE programme marks the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer - or World Ozone Day for short - we take a look at a LIFE project pioneering new technologies and the circular economy to help protect our planet while contributing to the goals of the Kigali Amendment. HFCs are often released when old cooling units are discarded or incinerated. The EUR 1.4 million, four-year LIFE-4-Fgases project, concluding in September 2025, has developed and successfully tested an innovative hybrid adsorption and membrane system (HAMSYS) to recover used HFCs from refrigerant blends, offering a promising approach to cut emissions and protect the climate.

LIFE-4-Fgases is a win-win for the circular economy and the environment. The project's combination of membrane and adsorption technology to replace conventional distillation methods enables HFCs to be recovered and reused more efficiently, especially where alternatives are not yet available.

'Membrane technology allows the efficient separation of the different compounds that make up the most common refrigerants found on the market,' says Javier Pinedo, Chief Research Officer with project partner Apria Systems. 'The technology will now be scaled up and tested by our technology partners to assess its potential market penetration, replicability and transferability.'

It was not only important for the project team to prove the technology works, but to test it in a real-world industrial waste management facility. Project partner Ambigroup agreed to host the demonstration plant at its recycling facility near Lisbon, Portugal. 'I think it could be a good future solution for separating f-gases which come from the recovery process,' says Ambigroup's Rocardo Diogo. 'It can be applied not only in refrigeration equipment but also in air conditioning units.'

LIFE-4-Fgases is just one of hundreds of LIFE projects dedicated to mitigating the impacts of climate change and helping EU citizens adapt to global heating. The project supports EU F-gas legislation and is aligned with the goals of the European Green Deal, 2050 Long-term Climate Strategy and the Fit for 55 package.