Watch our executive director Danielle Wright’s TEDxReImagineScience Talk to learn More.

The HFC Problem

Commonly used hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants (HFCs) are considered “super” greenhouse gases because pound for pound they trap thousands of times more heat than carbon dioxide (CO2). Due to increasing global demand for cooling and refrigeration, HFCs are the fastest-growing greenhouse gas in the world. HFCs are also categorized as Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs), which are exponentially more impactful in the near-term than other greenhouse gases.

Eliminating HFCs can avoid up to 0.5°C of warming by the end of the century, which is critical to avoid the catastrophic tipping point that is only 1.5°C away. Essentially, we can’t solve the climate crisis without addressing HFCs, which is why Project Drawdown identified this as one of the leading climate solutions. 

Why Supermarkets?

Supermarkets are the key to solving the HFC problem. The average supermarket system contains thousands of pounds of refrigerant and, due to the size and complexity of their refrigeration system, leaks 25% of its refrigerant each year.

That adds up to 70 Million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions each year just from supermarket refrigeration leaks. That is equivalent to the emissions from powering 12 million homes, which is roughly the number of households in the state of California.

The Solution

With zero or near-zero global warming potential (GWP), natural refrigerants are the climate-friendly solution. But for supermarkets, it’s not as easy as simply swapping out HFCs for natural refrigerants. Find out why.