The Environmental Investigation Agency has released a report claiming illegal refrigerants are entering Italy via organised criminal networks, penetrating major supply chains including manufacturing, supermarkets and the state railway.
In its latest report Fakes, Fraud and F-gases, the EIA said profits worth hundreds of millions of dollars are being lost annually due to the illegal HFC trade.
Following deep cuts in Europe’s HFC supply, a large scale international illegal trade in F-gases has sprung up, driven by huge profits and uneven law enforcement, which has attracted organised criminal networks, according to senior EIA climate campaigner, Fin Walravens.
“Estimating the scale of illegal trade in any product is difficult, but industry associations have claimed nearly half of the refrigerant gas on the Italian market is illegal,” he said.
The European Union introduced new regulations in 2024 to combat the illicit trade, including new cylinder take-back requirements and strengthened customs checks.
“But our covert investigations have revealed that multiple companies operating at different points in the supply chain, from importers to regional distributors, openly admit to practices such as exceeding quota limits, falsifying invoices, mislabelling virgin refrigerants as being reclaimed gases and evading Value Added Tax (VAT),” Walravens said.
“The report also reveals a growing trend of fake F-gases flooding markets, with cheap highly polluting F-gases mislabelled and sold as lower climate impact F-gases.
“Companies have known for a long time that rapid reductions in HFCs are coming, and yet many retailers and other sectors across Europe remain heavily reliant on these refrigerants despite the ready availability of alternatives.”
Italy is the EU’s largest consumer of air-conditioning and in 2024 reported more HFC seizures than any other member state. In 2025, EIA conducted undercover investigations into the country’s HFC market, engaging across the supply chain with importers, distributors and online sellers trading via online marketplaces.
The Italian authorities have acknowledged the F-gas challenge, recently setting up a formal roundtable of the country’s environment ministry, customs and police to tackle the illegal trade.
“With a 50 per cent supply cut due in 2027, consumers across Europe must rapidly wean themselves off F-gases and onto natural refrigerant alternatives if they want to avoid organised crime in their supply chains,” Walravens said.