In late May 2026, the EPA, under Administrator Lee Zeldin and announced alongside President Trump, finalized a rule weakening the “Technology Transitions” provisions of the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act of 2020, the bipartisan law that set a schedule for phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). HFCs are potent greenhouse gases used as refrigerants.
The final rule, published May 26, pushed back key deadlines: the requirement for cold-storage warehouses to switch to lower-emission refrigerants was extended six years, from 2026 to 2032; the semiconductor-industry deadline moved to 2030; and the agency removed the deadline for installing certain legacy residential and light-commercial air-conditioning systems. The EPA framed it as saving about $976 million in engineering costs, mostly for supermarkets, and proposed a separate change projected to save another $1.5 billion.
The administration sold the rollback as lowering grocery and appliance costs for families. But the EPA's own rule acknowledges the opposite risk: that loosening the limits “may result in increased demand for HFCs, which in turn may result in tighter supply and higher HFC prices for downstream consumers.” Environmental groups, including the NRDC, said the move undermines a phasedown that industry had already been planning around and that delivers climate benefits.