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Second Nature and Tradewater have launched a partnership aimed at reducing one million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2030. This initiative focuses on the collection, control, and destruction of potent greenhouse gasses like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which have a global warming potential significantly higher than CO2. Given their strong global warming potential, Project Drawdown ranks refrigerant management as one of the top solutions for mitigating climate change. Yet, many sustainability and facilities officers are unaware of this solution and generally unaware of these Ozone-Depleting Substances (ODS).The partnership aims to educate and leverage higher education institutions to manage and destroy these harmful refrigerants. Campuses without ODS to destroy can also support the initiative by purchasing high-quality carbon offsets, through Tradewater, which meets the criteria for high-integrity decarbonization projects. This collaboration is poised to make a substantial impact on climate change mitigation.
This progress thermometer represents our collective journey towards achieving the ambitious goal of eliminating one million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2030 through our 1 Million Tonne Campaign.
As we embark on this mission, we encourage you to revisit this page regularly to view the real-time milestones made. We will track our progress and celebrate the impactful strides towards a cooler, greener future.
Pomona’s selection of Tradewater credits for its carbon offset portfolio stemmed from a rigorous, multi-pronged approach that included meaningful student participation.
Impact (tCO2e): 3,254
In 2024, Loyola became the first university in the Chicago region to achieve carbon neutrality across its campuses, made possible in part by leveraging Tradewater’s carbon credits.
Impact (tCO2e): 39,000
In 2025, Austin College made its first strategic carbon offset purchase—targeting unavoidable emissions like air travel—as an important step toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2035.
Impact (tCO2e): 600
As part of its 2006 commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2025, Oberlin has reduced on-campus emissions by about 90% through geothermal heating, solar arrays, and energy monitoring systems, and is purchasing carbon credits from Tradewater’s U.S.-based ODS destruction projects to offset the remaining emissions.
Impact (tCO2e): 2,846
ASU had a quantity of the legacy refrigerant R12 on campus. R12 is a superpollutant with a global warming potential 12,500x higher than CO2. In a pioneering move, ASU took accountability for their legacy refrigerant. They partnered with Tradewater to safely transport and destroy the R12, permanently preventing it from leaking into the atmosphere.
Impact (tCO2e): 860
Swarthmore College’s selection of Tradewater credits as part of its carbon offset portfolio stems from a year-long student-led research project to create an institutional approach to carbon offsetting in support of our To Zero By Thirty-Five (20X35) carbon neutrality commitment.
Impact (tCO2e): 700
UB partnered with Tradewater on the purchase of 42,100 carbon credits from one of Tradewaterʼs superpollutant destruction projects in the United States. UBʼs funding ensures that Tradewater can reach and safely destroy equipment and canisters that hold legacy ozone-depleting substances and which are at risk of leaking superpollutants into the atmosphere.
Impact (tCO2e): 42,100
Below are some common questions about the campaign and answers to them.
Any higher education institution is eligible to participate.
None. Tradewater does refrigerant management and destruction projects all around the world. We can meet you where you’re at.
We applaud all efforts to manage potent refrigerants to prevent their emissions into the atmosphere and we celebrate support of high-quality carbon credits. Both are sorely needed. Tradewater destroys 100% of the legacy refrigerant they find and is the only company in the United States focused on the problem of legacy refrigerants solely from an environmental standpoint. For this campaign, only refrigerant management projects and carbon offset purchases through Tradewater will count towards the 1 million tonne goal.
Legacy refrigerants have extremely high global warming potential (GWP) values. Some chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) warm the planet 10,000 times more than CO2 on a pound-for-pound basis! Because these gases are so potent, the positive impact of leak prevention is significant. An old industrial chiller has about 500 pounds of CFC refrigerant in it. Because of its high GWP, preventing that gas from leaking into the atmosphere is equivalent to preventing about 2,000 metric tonnes of CO2 from being emitted.
Please reach out to Tradewater if you’re interested in exploring refrigerant destruction or carbon credit purchasing from refrigerant destruction projects. You can contact Eli at [email protected].
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