The Honduran tanks

Refrigerators for climate action? At first sight, this doesn’t seem a likely proposition. But carbon dioxide is not the only substance driving climate change. In fact, ozone-depleting substances and fluorinated gases even have a far greater global warming potential per unit substance – in the case of F-gases, it is 100 to 24,000 greater than that of CO₂. “We’ll miss the Paris Agreement targets if we lose sight of these substances,” Tradewater CEO Tim Brown explains. “The Montreal Protocol has succeeded in banning the production of ozone-depleting substances. Their use, however, continues.” Tradewater tracks down the halogenated hydrocarbons such as CFCs which are contained in cooling and air-conditioning systems and destroys them. This is financed via the voluntary carbon market and its carbon credits. “We’re also tackling methane. This continues to escape from abandoned coal mines or orphaned gas wells.” To date, Tradewater has developed more than 70 projects around the globe which have prevented emissions amounting to 7.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Honduras provides a good example of this work. Here, Brown and his team identified a stockpile of dichlorodifluoromethane, commonly known as Freon, a potent greenhouse gas. Weighing in at 6,410 kilograms, its warming potential corresponded to 61,350 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent. “The owner, a former importer of CFCs, no longer had any use for it. So we bought the entire stockpile off him,” the CEO says. “This is something I like particularly about our projects: they combine climate benefit with economic benefit, often for individuals and small enterprises.” Locating the sources and stocks of non-CO₂ gases poses major challenges. “We’ve set up a comprehensive network for this purpose, and also cooperate with governmental agencies.” The Tradewater team repeatedly discovers leaking tanks and Honduras was no exception. “Happily, in this case only a few were leaking. But it does underscore the urgency of dealing with these substances as quickly as possible – for once they’ve entered the atmosphere, we can no longer recapture them.” Sometimes, the logistics involved in getting the substances to places where they can be destroyed safely are immensely challenging. “Such facilities need to meet high standards – unfortunately, there isn’t a single one of this kind in Honduras. Moreover, the Basel Convention imposes strict requirements upon the transport of hazardous wastes. In the end, however, we succeeded in shipping the gas cylinders to France and destroying their contents there.”

Anyone looking to purchase a carbon credit generated by the Honduran project will be disappointed, for demand is brisk and the last credit was sold in January 2024. “We ensure high carbon offset quality, as our projects are always additional, their impact is permanent, and their contribution to climate change mitigation is very accurately measurable,” Tim Brown says. Anyone wishing to use refrigerators for climate action knows where to go. Tradewater continues its work around the world to track down and destroy greenhouse gases.