The EPA announced last week that it is delaying rules on grocery stores and frozen foods companies requiring them to adopt climate-friendly refrigeration systems. The administration cites grocery prices as the driving force behind the delay, stating in a press release:
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized revisions to the 2023 Technology Transitions Rule to extend compliance deadlines for the use of hydrofluorocarbons, making a wider variety of more affordable refrigerants available to businesses.
- President Trump is also proposing a correction to the 2024 Emissions Reduction and Reclamation Rule that imposed crippling leak repair requirements on virtually all existing large-scale refrigeration systems—hurting consumers and small businesses across the country. These higher costs threatened thousands of jobs and were passed on in the form of higher prices.
- Together, this added flexibility will have positive impacts on supermarkets, home air conditioning systems, semiconductor chip manufacturing, and medical supply transportation, lowering operating costs which in turn will result in lower costs for consumers.
The original rules, passed by the EPA during the Biden administration, required compliance starting on January 1, 2026. Now, that deadline is pushed out to 2032. Frankly, given the rollbacks on almost all climate policy, it is surprising these rules were delayed rather than revoked entirely. It’s unclear what impact this will have on the price of groceries, but cost-of-living increases are becoming a common rationale for delaying climate action. Despite being on opposite ends of the political spectrum, both the president and the Governor of New York cite the cost of living for scaling back climate commitments.
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