Gas Buster

“Non-CO2 gases account for nearly half of all global warming from human activity since 1970. Once non-CO2 gases are released into the atmosphere, they cannot be removed through nature-based solutions or other technologies.

The gases released from refrigeration equipment or fire extinguishers are often overlooked and accelerate climate change, particularly in the short term.   Preventing these super pollutants now buys time for broader CO2 strategies to take effect.

• CFC or Chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants are up to 10,900 times more potent than CO2 and are ozone depleting substances.
• Halons are up to 6,900 times more potent than CO2 and are ozone depleting substances.

Under the Montreal Protocol, the production of CFC refrigerants and the production of HCFCs in the U.S. have been phased out. While use of these materials is now prohibited, destruction of existing stockpiles is not required, so without destruction, gases in stockpiles will eventually be released into the atmosphere. A 2022 MIT report revealed that 11 billion metric tons of CO2e could be released into the environment from existing CFC refrigerant gases alone and the amount released by HCFC refrigerants could equal 5 billion tons of CO2.

Tradewater collects forgotten greenhouse gases using a small-scale aggregation approach. The consistent focus on many small sources results in a large and scalable impact.”

– Johanna Depenthal, Director of Project Research 

Project Type: Technology Based Avoidance/Reduction

Carbon Standard: ACR

Vintage: 2024

Additionality: There are no incentives or financial mechanisms to encourage ODS destruction so without the incentive of revenues from the sale of carbon credits, destruction will not take place and the gases would escape into the atmosphere.

Permanence: There is no risk of reversal in this project as the GHG is permanently destroyed. Tradewater’s technologies ensure that over 99.99% of the chemicals are permanently destroyed during the destruction process.

Site Visit: Cool Effect team members visited a U.S.-based Tradewater ODS destruction project in September 2023

Tradewater collects and destroys ODS around the world. For this group of projects, ODS is collected from Chile and destroyed in France.

All ODS refrigerant in this project was sourced either through recovery from units such as decommissioned building chillers, or from disposable cylinders or drums containing virgin material. In the case of recoveries, the material was previously recovered by another party. Under business-as-usual, the refrigerant would either remain in storage until use (in the case of stockpiles) or used in chiller systems still utilizing older refrigerants, like R-11. In either case, the ODS will eventually vent, either through leakage resulting from corrosion of the storage container or through inefficiencies, breakdowns, or mishandling of equipment. The refrigerants included in this project were no longer needed for use, and their risk of venting is thereby mitigated by destruction at an eligible destruction facility in Saint-Vulbas, France.

Every container of ODS that Tradewater destroys is weighed by a third-party using regularly calibrated scales. The ODS is then sampled by a third-party and analyzed by an accredited refrigerant laboratory to determine its species and purity. These two steps combine to ensure that credits are issued only for the precise volume and type of refrigerant destroyed.

The destruction facility that Tradewater uses destroys over 99.99% of the ODS. All the refrigerant collected is destroyed in highly regulated incinerators with continuous monitoring equipment to ensure that it meets strict international, federal, and local environmental regulations. The most important of these regulations is a requirement that at least 99.99% of the refrigerant is destroyed permanently. The other .01% includes by-products that are relatively inert and low-impact—such as carbon monoxide. Tradewater accounts for the project emissions created during the collection, transport, and destruction of ODS – including emissions from the collection and aggregation of ozone-destroying substances (ODS), transportation of the ODS to the destruction facility, emissions at the destruction facility itself, and emissions of substitute refrigerants that will replace the destroyed refrigerants – and the number of offsets is reduced by a corresponding amount.

The amount of ODS destroyed is converted to a CO2-equivalent based on the global warming potential (GWP) and volume of the different ODS. The destruction facility supplies over 600,000 tons of steam for chemical manufacturers seeking low-carbon energy, meaning the project also supports the development of high-value-added solutions for the energy and environmental transition.

Tradewater publishes this information in the documentation for all its ODS destruction projects in a Certificate of Destruction.

• Refrigerants are permanently destroyed.
• Destroys refrigerants that would otherwise have no path to a destruction facility
• Transparent and quantifiable destruction with results at 99.99%
• Traceable chain of custody to a destruction facility
• High climate impact with the destruction of high GWP gas
• Contributions to SDGs 9, 12, and 13 are independently verified

• ODS are high Global Warming Potential (GWP) Gases and therefore precise measurement is essential to accurate estimation of emission reductions
• Highly qualified professionals are needed to operate machinery and waste.
• Limited availability of reliable incineration operations around the world.
• ODS is a hazardous waste that needs to be handled in compliance with national and international laws