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The black market for greenhouse gases is thriving

Hydrofluorocarbons are supposed to be dying out under the terms of a global treaty. The compounds represent a major threat to our climate, but remain in hot demand for shady businesses unwilling to change.

No, this isn’t leftist propaganda. Greenhouse gas emissions are technically being sold on the black market. But how and why?

The Environmental Protection Agency is scrambling to wean the planet off gases called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) before they potentially hypercharge global warming.

These man-made compounds are primarily used as coolants, ironically, in household appliances like fridges, freezers, and vehicle air conditioners. Your local ice rink and supermarket probably love the stuff.


Where do hydrofluorocarbons come from?

Springing to life in the 1990s as the successor to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), after the refrigerants were internationally banned for depleting the planet’s ozone layer, HFCs have proven a stubborn menace to another existential crisis, climate change.

Notorious for trapping the sun’s heat, certain iterations of HFC reportedly have warming potential some 14,800 times higher than carbon dioxide over the span of a century. That’s worrying, considering ageing appliances and pipe networks leak a lot.

Shortly after these revelations first came to light, the EPA scorned HFCs as ‘super greenhouse gases’ and widescale phase-down plans were called into effect in 2016. Involving over 150 nations, this landmark bill became known as the Kigali Amendment.

Having been labelled a ‘controlled substance’ for around eight years now, the EPA has been given the authority to limit or increase the amount of HFCs a supplier or company is allowed to deal in – basically, the ‘Your father says no, and that’s final’ type of scenario.

Companies deemed to be doing essential work are given some leeway, including inhaler manufacturers, semiconductor producers, and the Ministry of Defence, but no new applications for HFCs are being considered.

The supply is finite and diminishing every year until 2026, by which point production and consumption will hopefully reach just 15% of historic baseline levels.

With increasingly less corporate recipients in the equation, however, nefarious traders and smugglers are rushing in to fill the vacuum and rake in the profits – and consumer demand is still very much alive.


Fighting the HFC black market

For those who don’t wish to update their old appliances, or simply can’t afford to, the option of buying HFC compounds off-the-books can be seized upon.

Illicit marketplaces are particularly rampant in Europe, where smugglers continue to bring in huge quantities of gases from China and Turkey. In 2022, dedicated authority task forces seized illegal imports with emissions equivalent to around 889,000 metric tons of CO2.

For high-quantity cases, particularly those involving industry or retail business, federal governments are turning to hefty fines and prosecutions in an attempt to turn the tide.

Last month, the EPA announced a Tokyo-based chemical manufacturer called Resonac Corporation had been ordered to pay a record $416,000 in reparations for four separate attempts to procure HFCs. All on-site coolants were also seized and destroyed.

A month prior to that, the US witnessed its first prosecution for supplying HFCs. Michael Hart is accused of hiding gas canisters in his vehicle and smuggling them from Mexico to the US, where he then listed the contraband on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.

He is charged with conspiracy, importation contrary to law, and scale of merchandise imported contrary to law. Should they all stick, Hart could be looking at a maximum penalty of 45 years in prison and an eye watering $750,000 fine.

While this may be an effective deterrent for some, no doubt including Hart, a quick search for HFC sellers online shows that authorities still massively have their work cut out to effectively cull the market.

Besides, official dealings with HFCs also need improving. The next generation of coolants cannot repeat the mistakes of the past by creating an entirely different ecological problem from this one, and there has to be more effective systems implemented for the safe disposal of retired appliances.

Washington State is considering bringing in a bill to pay technicians for turning in HFC gas recovered from end-of-life devices before disposal. Globally speaking, however, our phase-down plans could do with some polish.

To think, the freezer section at the supermarket used to be one of my favourite parts of the weekly shop. Sigh.

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