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On Tuesday in Strasbourg, the European Parliament finally voted through a ban on F-gases, which is intended to reduce the EU’s climate impact by 2.5 percent. The Red Green’s MEP, Nikolaj Villumsen, calls it a huge climate victory. “I’m really proud to have been involved in negotiating it. The measures will significantly reduce the EU’s climate impact. So much so that it is not just many times Denmark’s – but actually equivalent to the entire EU aviation sector,” he says after the vote.
     Nikolaj Villumsen was the Left Group’s negotiator on the issue. F-gases are greenhouse gases that are up to 25,000 times more climate-damaging than CO2. Denmark has long had stricter legislation, but the EU has lagged behind. With the new directive, a complete phase-out of harmful gases will lead to a complete phase-out of harmful gases by the year 2050.
     F-gases are used in, among other things, some refrigerators, heat pumps and air conditioning systems. They were put into use instead of the also climate-damaging CFCs that were phased out during the 00s. 457 MEPs voted in favour of the directive. 92 voted against and 32 abstained in Tuesday’s plenary session in Strasbourg. /ritzau/