Honeywell has begun destroying inventories of certain ozone-depleting refrigerants and selling the resulting emission reduction credits for use in California's greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program.
The company has already destroyed more than 27,000 pounds of CFC-11, a chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant with one of the highest ozone-depleting potentials. It plans to destroy its remaining inventory of ozone-depleting CFC-11, CFC-12 and R-500 refrigerants this year. Honeywell's destruction of these CFCs is equivalent to eliminating over 125,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, or more than 22,000 passenger vehicles from the road for a year.
"Honeywell chose to destroy this inventory, rather than sell the refrigerants for use by others, as part of its commitment to environmental leadership," says Jeffrey Ballew, strategic marketing director for Honeywell Fluorine Products. "Honeywell has been at the forefront in developing today's non-ozone-depleting refrigerants and next-generation low-global-warming-potential refrigerants."
The refrigerants were destroyed following protocols developed by the Climate Action Reserve, a national offsets program that sets standards for greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects. Honeywell expects to generate more than 125,000 Climate Reserve Tonnes (CRTs), which are credits it can sell to third parties who need credits for California's greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program. The sale of credits will offset the cost of destroying the refrigerants.
Honeywell partnered with MGM Innova Consulting, which provides companies with low carbon solutions and services, to ensure the materials were destroyed in compliance with the Climate Action Reserve's U.S. ODS Project Protocol. The results were verified by TUV-SUD, a third-party auditing firm.
"MGM Innova is proud to support Honeywell for this project as it demonstrates leadership in this emerging area," says Marco G. Monroy, CEO of MGM Innova.
The Climate Action Reserve establishes regulatory-quality standards for the development, quantification and verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction projects in North America. It issues CRT credits generated from such projects and tracks the transaction of credits over time in a transparent, publicly-accessible system.
California's cap-and-trade program was established by the California Air Resources Board under California's Global Warming Solutions Act. Under the plan, emissions from the state's largest industrial facilities will be capped in 2013 and then gradually decreased over eight years as part of an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Under California's program, certain companies are granted allowances for each metric ton of greenhouse gas they emit. They can trade unused allowances or purchase eligible emission reduction credits as needed to stay under the cap.