Isometric has released a draft protocol for recovering and destroying hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and ozone-depleting substances (ODS) for public consultation. The protocol outlines requirements and procedures for projects that collect and permanently destroy refrigerant gases before they reach the atmosphere. This is Isometric's second superpollutant protocol, following the Landfill Methane Flaring and Utilization Protocol.
HFCs and ODS are synthetic greenhouse gases used primarily as refrigerants in cooling and air conditioning systems. They are among the most potent greenhouse gases—over a 100-year period, the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of these chemicals is hundreds to thousands of times greater than the same volume of carbon dioxide.
International agreements have made progress in limiting the production of new HFCs and ODS. The Montreal Protocol and its Kigali Amendment set legally binding targets to reduce production and use of these gases. However, neither treaty directly addresses the end-of-life requirements for HFCs and ODS already in use in cooling systems around the world. In many countries, these gases are often vented to the atmosphere when cooling systems reach the end of their lives, contributing significantly to near-term global warming.
HFC and ODS recovery and destruction projects address this gap. They collect refrigerant gases from equipment at end-of-life or during servicing and destroy them at approved facilities—preventing them from entering the atmosphere.
To ensure projects deliver genuine emissions reductions, Isometric's protocol requires:
- Every container of recovered refrigerant gas to be individually weighed on a calibrated scale and sampled for compositional analysis, with the most conservative GWP-weighted result used for crediting.
- Chain-of-custody tracking from point of origin through destruction for every container.
- Country eligibility lists to be updated annually as national phase down schedules progress and new data becomes available, verifying that destruction activity does not incentivize increased production or import of these gases.
- Facilities to meet a 99.99% destruction removal efficiency, with co-pollutant emissions monitored throughout the destruction process to ensure environmental safety.
The protocol also supports the development of longer-term infrastructure to manage refrigerant gases. The collection networks, trained technicians, and reporting systems that destruction projects establish are the same foundations that reclamation, recycling, and broader lifecycle management of these gases will require.
Recoolit, a leader in refrigerant recovery and destruction, provided extensive feedback during the development of the protocol and is the first supplier signed up to generate superpollutant certificates under it.
Louis Potok, CEO of Recoolit, said: "Refrigerant destruction is one of the highest-impact climate interventions available today, but its ability to scale has been held back by a lack of methodologies for HFC destruction in Article 5 countries. This protocol is a critical step in fixing that. We are excited to work with Isometric on bringing rigor and scale to refrigerant destruction."
This protocol was developed through collaboration between Isometric's in-house Science Team and reviewers from Isometric's independent Science Network of more than 400 academic experts and practitioners.
We welcome comments from buyers, suppliers, and scientists during the 30-day public consultation period ending on April 19, 2025.
To learn more, read about Isometric's expansion into superpollutants and the Landfill Methane Flaring and Utilization protocol.
