FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

AGC to Supply Honeywell with HFO-1234yf—New-generation Automobile Refrigerant 

 Contributing to the dissemination of a new refrigerant with significantly lower environmental impact 

Tokyo, January 23, 2014—AGC (Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.; Head Office: Tokyo; President & CEO: Kazuhiko 

Ishimura) announces that it will supply a new environmentally friendly refrigerant for automobiles to Honeywell 

(Head Office: New Jersey State, USA). The Company plans to build a new high-efficiency manufacturing plant 

using proprietary fluorochemical technology at its Chiba Plant, and start supplying the new refrigerant from 

around the middle of 2015. 

The new HFO-1234yf refrigerant for automobiles is a new environmentally friendly product with a very low 

global-warming potential *1 (GWP) of less than 1 *2, which is 1/1,300 or less than that of conventional HFC-134a 

refrigerant, as well as having a considerably shorter atmospheric lifetime of 1/500 or less. HFO-1234yf 

refrigerant is being increasingly adopted by automakers in Europe and the U.S., due to the need to comply with 

the Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) Directive *3 in Europe and Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) 

Regulations *4 in the U.S. Demand for HFO-1234yf is expected to grow rapidly in Japan too, in response to 

regulations on high-GWP refrigerants slated to take effect in 2015. Under such circumstances, its global demand 

is forecasted to expand in the future. 

AGC has been focusing research and development on environmentally friendly low-GWP refrigerants, and has 

established production technologies for HFO-1234yf ahead of its competitors. 

By leveraging its long-established technology development capabilities in fluorochemicals and 

volume-production capacity for high-quality refrigerants, AGC will actively roll out measures that contribute to 

preventing global warming, such as starting supplies of HFO-1234yf for automobiles and accelerating 

development of its proprietary next-generation refrigerants for building air-conditioning systems and other 

applications. 

The AGC Group will draw on its fluorochemical technology—one of its core technologies—and provide products 

that contribute to reducing environmental impact and providing comfortable living environment. 

*1 Coefficient indicating the impact per unit weight a substance released into the atmosphere will have on 

global warming by setting the global warming potential of CO2 at 1. 

*2 Data based on a draft of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 

Change (IPCC) 

*3 The length of time a substance remains in the atmosphere in a stable condition. 

*4 EU regulations that took effect in January 2013, and cover the use of refrigerants with GWP more than 

150 in new general automobiles and commercial light vehicles. 

*5 The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) allows automakers to receive greenhouse gas emission 

reduction credits in exchange for adopting HFO-1234yf. 
Media Contact 

Junichi Kobayashi, General Manager, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations 

Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. 

(Contact: Yasuo Sugiyama; Tel: +81-3-3218-5603; E-mail: info-pr@agc.com) 

< Reference > 

■Comparison of environmental impacts 

 HFO-1234yf refrigerant delivers outstanding environmental performance, while offering equivalent 

refrigerant performance to conventional HFC-134a refrigerant. 

Refrigerant 

1234yf 

(HFO-1234yf)

134a 

(HFC-134a)

Carbon dioxide 

(CO2) 

Atmospheric lifetime 10.5 days 13.4 years 5-200 years

Global warming potential Less than 1 1,300 1 

Refrigerant performance 

(comparison with HFC-134a)

Equivalent Worse