This guide explains what refrigerants and fugitive emissions are, how they contribute to Scope 1 emissions, and why monitoring and reporting them is crucial. It provides guidance on identifying relevant gases, calculating their CO2 equivalents, and offers tips for accurate data collection.
Understanding refrigerants and fugitive emissions
Fugitive emissions refer to unintended releases of gases (in this case, greenhouse gases).
These are often from heating, venting, or air conditioning/ cooling (HVAC) equipment that use refrigerant gases.
However examples include:
Leakage of SF6 from electrical switchgear or semiconductor manufacture
Leaked methane from gas supply pipeline
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Emissions of CH4 and N2O from on-site waste or wastewater treatment.
🌎Many of these gases have a significant global warming potential.
Any leakages or releases to the atmosphere of these gases should be monitored and entered as part of your submission, they are classed as ‘Scope 1 emissions.’
You may find them used in:
| 1. Refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, including household refrigeration, domestic, air conditioning and heat pumps, mobile air conditioning, chillers, retail food refrigeration, cold storage warehouses, refrigerated transport, industrial process refrigeration, and commercial unitary air conditioning systems. |
| 2. Fixed and portable fire suppression equipment. |
| 3. Purchased industrial gases. These gases can be used in processes such as manufacturing, testing, or laboratory applications. |
📚For full guidance and a list of gases to include, see the US Environmental Protection Agency’s specific guidance.
How to calculate CO2 equivalent
If you need help to identify relevant gases and calculate the tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent to share, you can do so via the Secaro calculator. You can find this linked from the tooltip in the refrigerants and fugitive emissions section of your report, accessed by clicking the question mark icon.
🔧We also recommend the GHG calculation tool provided by GHG protocol, the World Resources Institute and Anthesis. This can be found here.
Advice for identification of refrigerants and fugitive emissions
- Review process flow diagrams, equipment lists, and material safety data sheets (MSDS) for refrigerants and other chemicals used in the process.
- Install monitoring equipment to continuously monitor emissions from key sources such as refrigeration units, HVAC systems, and storage tanks.
- Set up alarms to alert operators when emissions exceed predetermined thresholds.
- Maintain records of refrigerant usage, leak detection activities, repairs, and maintenance activities related to emission reduction.
Advice for collecting the related data
- For refrigerant emissions, data on the amount of refrigerant leaked can be estimated on a site-level and allocated to individual products.
- Contractors provide receipts of the amount of refrigerant that was used to top-up refrigerant amounts, which can be used to estimate the amount of refrigerant leaked across a site in a reporting year.