Near the end of his first term, President Donald Trump signed bipartisan legislation aimed at reducing harmful pollutants emitted by refrigerators and air conditioners. The 2020 American Innovation and Manufacturing Act brought environmentalists and major business groups into rare alignment on climate change and earned widespread praise.

Five years later, the second Trump administration is reversing course. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed loosening federal rules that require grocery stores, air-conditioning companies and other businesses to reduce the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – powerful greenhouse gases thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide.

This policy shift has disrupted a broad bipartisan consensus on the need to quickly phase out domestic use of HFCs, which are considered a major driver of global warming. The proposal highlights the second Trump administration’s determination to roll back regulations perceived as climate-friendly, even at the cost of creating market uncertainty for the very industries it claims to protect.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin framed the proposal as part of a broader agenda to put “a dagger through the heart of climate change religion,” stating the HFC plan will help “make American refrigerants affordable, safe and reliable again.”

Environmental advocates warn the reversal will increase climate pollution while disrupting an industry already transitioning to alternative coolants. Kiff Gallagher, executive director of the Global Heat Reduction Initiative, emphasized that any delay in phasing out HFCs “is going to have negative outcomes and significant ones,” as these chemicals are key contributors to extreme heat and pollution.

The original 2020 law accelerated an industry shift to alternative refrigerants using less harmful chemicals. It enjoyed support from major business organizations including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Chemistry Council, who viewed the law and the international Kigali Amendment on pollutants as beneficial for both jobs and the environment.

American companies such as Chemours and Honeywell had already developed and begun producing alternative refrigerants for domestic and global markets. The 2020 legislation led to a 2023 rule that imposed steep restrictions on HFCs starting next year – the very rule now being relaxed.

In September, the EPA announced it is easing standards for cold storage warehouses and other cooling equipment while delaying additional aspects of the HFC rule until 2032. During a summer visit to a refrigeration facility in swing-state Georgia alongside Vice President JD Vance, Zeldin claimed the administration was responding to complaints from grocery stores and refrigeration companies about the federal rule.

“We at the Trump administration are heeding the call of Alta Refrigeration,” Zeldin declared at an August appearance at the company in Peachtree City, Georgia. He argued the current rule restricts access to necessary refrigerants while increasing costs and reducing supply.

The Food Industry Association, representing grocery stores and suppliers, praised the EPA plan, with President Leslie Sarasin stating the current rule “imposed significant and unrealistic compliance timelines.” Jorge Alvarez, co-founder of Florida-based iGas USA, which sells products including HFCs, claimed the delay “gives industry a chance to create new refrigerants.”

However, many industry players had already made significant adjustments to meet the timeline set by the 2020 law. Samantha Slater of the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, which represents more than 330 manufacturers, warned that “changing the schedule now would disrupt planning and inject uncertainty across the market.”

Slater noted that manufacturers have already retooled product lines and certified models based on the current timeline, with nearly 90% of residential and light commercial air conditioning systems now using substitute refrigerants. She cautioned that a delay would advantage foreign competitors who didn’t invest in alternative refrigerants and could lead to “higher costs for U.S. consumers.”

Chemours, a leading Delaware-based producer of alternative refrigerants, expressed concern that delays “risk undermining and stranding U.S. manufacturing and innovation investments, while also increasing uncertainty and supply chain inefficiencies, ultimately driving up consumer costs.”

Industry representatives also disputed one of the administration’s key justifications for the delay – a temporary shortage of cylinders used by HVAC contractors this summer – saying that issue has already been resolved.

Environmental advocates like David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council point out that the current rule ensures an efficient phasedown of harmful HFCs while offering industry regulatory uniformity and global competitiveness. The federal standard also prevents a patchwork of state regulations, though states like California, Washington, and New York have similar requirements that may conflict with the new Trump administration standard.

“Weakening the rule will confuse the market,” Doniger warned, highlighting the regulatory uncertainty that the reversal is creating for an industry that had already embraced the transition away from HFCs.