| Refrigerant | GWP, class and result | Type |
|---|
How to Use the Refrigerant Phase-Out Guide
Type a refrigerant name or number, or filter by type: HCFC, HFC and HFC blends, HFO or natural refrigerants.
Choose a Schedule 1.1 product such as a chiller or a commercial freezer. Each HFC is marked within its GWP limit or over it.
Each card gives the composition, the 100-year GWP, the ASHRAE safety class and the Canadian status. The grid shows how it fares in all eight listed products.
Add the project details if you want them on the report, then use PDF, CSV, Copy or Print to save the filtered list.
Refrigerant phase-out rules in Canada
Canada does not phase out refrigerants with one list of banned gases. Three federal controls work side by side: an import and manufacture ban on HCFCs such as R-22, a cap on HFC consumption measured in tonnes of CO2 equivalent, and GWP limits on specific kinds of new equipment. Which one touches a job depends on the refrigerant and on the equipment. The lookup above sorts the 18 refrigerants into those three groups and checks each HFC against the equipment limits.
What the three rules control
The rules sit in the Ozone-depleting Substances and Halocarbon Alternatives Regulations. The HCFC ban stops the import and manufacture of R-22. The HFC cap limits how much HFC can be imported or manufactured each year. The equipment limits, listed in Schedule 1.1, prohibit importing or manufacturing certain new products that use an HFC above a set GWP. The regulations control import and manufacture. They do not control the use or sale of HFC refrigerant, so a technician can still service existing equipment with the refrigerant it was built for. The effect on a contractor shows up as supply and price, and in which refrigerants new equipment is allowed to contain.
The HFC consumption cap
The cap starts from a baseline of 18,008,795 tonnes of CO2 equivalent and falls in steps. The amending regulations, SOR/2020-177, set that baseline and list the allowed consumption at each step: a 10% reduction from 2019, 40% from 2024, 70% from 2029, 80% from 2034 and 85% from 2036. Because the cap is in CO2 equivalent, a tonne of a high-GWP refrigerant uses up far more of the allowance than a tonne of a low-GWP one.
| Year | Reduction from baseline | Share of baseline allowed | Allowed consumption (t CO2e) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 10% | 90% | 16,207,916 |
| 2024 | 40% | 60% | 10,805,277 |
| 2029 | 70% | 30% | 5,402,639 |
| 2034 | 80% | 20% | 3,601,759 |
| 2036 | 85% | 15% | 2,701,319 |
Product limits for new equipment
Schedule 1.1 of the regulations sets a GWP limit for the refrigerant in each product type, with a start date. A product is prohibited when the refrigerant it contains has a GWP above its limit. Both start dates have passed.
| Product (commercial or industrial unless stated) | Date | GWP limit |
|---|---|---|
| Stand-alone medium-temperature refrigeration | January 1, 2020 | 1,400 |
| Stand-alone medium-temperature refrigeration, residential | January 1, 2025 | 150 |
| Stand-alone low-temperature refrigeration | January 1, 2020 | 1,500 |
| Stand-alone low-temperature refrigeration, residential | January 1, 2025 | 150 |
| Centralized refrigeration system | January 1, 2020 | 2,200 |
| Condensing unit | January 1, 2020 | 2,200 |
| Chiller | January 1, 2025 | 750 |
| Mobile refrigeration system | January 1, 2025 | 2,200 |
Three results follow from the table. R-404A and R-507A are above every limit, so neither can go into the new products listed. R-410A (2,088) is within the 2,200 limit for centralized systems, condensing units and mobile systems, but over the limits for stand-alone commercial refrigeration and chillers. The 150 limit on residential stand-alone refrigeration is below the GWP of every HFC in the guide, including R-32 at 675, so those products rely on refrigerants that are not listed HFCs. Residential split air conditioners and heat pumps are not named in Schedule 1.1, and the schedule is the only product limit this guide checks.
R-22 in Canada
Importing R-22 for use as a refrigerant is prohibited, whether it is new, used, recovered, recycled or reclaimed, and so is importing equipment that contains it. Servicing an existing system uses R-22 that was imported before January 1, 2020 or that was recovered and reclaimed from existing equipment in Canada. Installed systems can keep running when a certified HVACR professional maintains them. When a system reaches the end of repair, the refrigerant conversion calculator compares the retrofit and replacement options for each existing refrigerant.
A2L refrigerants and CSA B52:2023
R-32, R-452B, R-454B and R-1234yf are class A2L under ASHRAE 34, which means lower toxicity and lower flammability than propane (A3). The Mechanical refrigeration code, CSA B52:2023, was published in late 2023 and includes new and updated requirements for A2L refrigerants. Provinces adopt it on their own schedules. Ontario's TSSA, for example, adopted CSA B52:23 effective October 1, 2024. The authority having jurisdiction in your province sets what applies, and the refrigerant regulation checker is a place to start.
Planning around the cap
The cap tightens in steps, so the pressure on high-GWP refrigerants builds over time instead of arriving on one date. By 2036 the allowed consumption is 2,701,319 tonnes of CO2 equivalent for all HFCs together. If the whole allowance went to a single refrigerant, it would cover about 1,294 tonnes of R-410A, 1,889 tonnes of R-134a or 4,002 tonnes of R-32, against a baseline equal to roughly 8,625 tonnes of R-410A. Real consumption is a mix, but the arithmetic shows why GWP matters more than the refrigerant name. The HFC phase-down calculator turns the schedule into a quantity for a given refrigerant and year.
How this guide gets its numbers
GWP values are 100-year figures from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. The HFC values come from Table 4 of the regulations, for example 675 for HFC-32, 1,430 for HFC-134a, 3,500 for HFC-125 and 4,470 for HFC-143a. A blend takes the mass-weighted sum of its components, so R-410A at 50% R-32 and 50% R-125 works out to 2,088 and R-454B at 68.9% R-32 and 31.1% R-1234yf works out to 466. The table lists no HFOs, so R-1234yf and R-1234ze carry the commonly published values of 4 and 6. R-290, R-744 and R-717 carry 3, 1 and 0. R-22 is an HCFC at 1,810. R-449A comes out at 1,397, only 3 below the 1,400 limit for stand-alone medium-temperature refrigeration, so rely on the manufacturer's listing for any product close to a limit.
Frequently Asked Questions
R-410A is an HFC, so its import counts against Canada's HFC consumption cap, which allows 60% of the baseline in 2024 and 15% in 2036. The federal product limits in Schedule 1.1 do not name residential split air conditioners or heat pumps. They do cover other equipment. R-410A has a GWP of 2,088, which is over the limit for stand-alone commercial refrigeration (1,400 or 1,500), stand-alone residential refrigeration (150) and chillers (750), and under the 2,200 limit for centralized refrigeration, condensing units and mobile refrigeration. Existing R-410A systems can still be serviced, because the regulations control import and manufacture, not the use or sale of HFC refrigerant.
Importing R-22 for use as a refrigerant is banned, whether it is new, used, recovered, recycled or reclaimed. Servicing an existing system uses R-22 that was imported before January 1, 2020 or that was recovered and reclaimed from existing equipment in Canada. Installed systems can keep operating when certified HVACR professionals maintain them. For replacement options, use the refrigerant conversion calculator.
From January 1, 2025, importing or manufacturing a commercial or industrial chiller that uses an HFC with a GWP above 750 is prohibited. On the values used in this guide, R-32 (675), R-452B (698), R-454B (466), R-513A (631) and R-450A (604) are within the limit. R-134a (1,430), R-407C (1,774), R-410A (2,088), R-448A (1,387), R-449A (1,397), R-452A (2,140), R-404A (3,922) and R-507A (3,985) are over it. Natural refrigerants and R-1234yf are not listed HFCs, so the limit is not written for them. The chiller maker's listing is the final word on what a unit is designed to contain.
R-404A has a GWP of 3,922, which is above every limit in Schedule 1.1, so it cannot be imported or manufactured in the new stand-alone, centralized, condensing unit, chiller or mobile products the schedule lists. Existing systems can keep running on R-404A, and the regulations do not control the use or sale of HFC refrigerant. Supply is limited by the cap on imports, which tightens in steps through 2036.