In 2017 the Australian Federal Government amended the Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Legislation to include the phase out of HFC refrigerants.

A statutory 85 per cent phase-down of HFC imports commenced on the  1 January 2018. The phase-down will have a starting point of 8 Mt CO₂-e, based on Australia’s current demand and reduce to 1.6 Mt CO₂-e by 2037. The phase-down will be managed by import quota limits which will reduce every two years, and 90% of quota will be allocated to existing importers and the remaining 10% will be allocated to applicants through a ballot system or by Ministerial discretion.

The reduction in import quotas has seen a steep rise in the price of HFC refrigerants similar to those seen with the phase out of HCFC-R22.