Making Climate Control More Climate Friendly through Canada's New Refrigeration Systems Protocol

Published on Mar 07, 2023

An important area of opportunity in greenhouse gas mitigation is in the retrofit or replacement of older refrigeration systems, which can emit powerful greenhouse gases produced by a group of industrial chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. These have a global warming potential that is potentially thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide. Reducing HFCs from industrial and commercial refrigeration and air conditioning systems used by facilities such as grocery stores, malls, warehouses, office buildings and ice-skating rinks offers significant climate benefit, and those efforts recently received fresh incentives with the introduction of a first-in-the-nation GHG quantification protocol through the Canadian Greenhouse Gas Offset System. Tooraj (TJ) Moulai, who leads Anew's Technical Climate Solutions team, was part of the technical working group that shaped Environment and Climate Change Canada's Refrigeration Systems Protocol, as described in a recent press release and coverage in Carbon Pulse and Carbon Herald.

As TJ noted in the release, which was issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada:

"The Canadian Greenhouse Gas Offset System promotes investment into technologies that achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions across multiple sectors. The Refrigeration Systems Protocol as part of Canada's Greenhouse Gas Offset System will incentivize businesses to convert existing high-Global Warming Potential refrigeration systems to new low-Global Warming Potential refrigeration systems and encourage new facility owners to implement the latest and most environmentally friendly technologies at the onset. This offset system, and the offset market, provide an excellent opportunity for businesses to address broad environmental goals while also achieving economic growth."
- Tooraj Moulai, Vice President, Anew Climate

Anew's pioneering experience in this area dates back to 2011 when the company's predecessor Blue Source Canada was the first to develop an ozone depleting substances (ODS) destruction offset project in Canada. Our in-depth expertise and long history of working with stakeholders in the refrigeration industry allowed Anew to provide valuable input on the new protocol as it was being developed.

Anew's deep understanding and knowledge of the carbon credit market helps clients realize the full value of their emission reductions. To learn more about the opportunities under this and other technical climate solutions protocols, please reach out to [email protected].