Our thinking

Playing the short game

8 March, 2024

We never thought we’d say we need to think short term about the climate crisis, but bear with us… Climate-i and Recoolit are among the organisations who have spotted an opportunity to make a tangible difference to global temperatures by changing how we report, including reporting global warming potential on a shorter timescale. We’re here to give you a taster but would really recommend checking out the full letter. 

SLCPs – such as methane and refrigerants – are potent greenhouse gases. Some refrigerants are thousands of times as potent as carbon dioxide. But they also remain in the atmosphere for shorter time periods than CO2. This means that eliminating SLCP emissions is a good way to bring the global temperature down relatively quickly. Unfortunately, the standard way of measuring emissions looks at the warming impact of gases over a 100-year period which makes action to eliminate SLCPs look less impactful than it really is. The joint letter calls for emissions reporting frameworks to adapt to reflect this, but it also points to ways businesses can take action now, by looking at the warming impact of their emissions over a shorter time period. If their emissions include SLCPs this approach may indicate some ways they can increase their decarbonisation impact quickly. 

Climate-i suggest that feasible SLCP cuts using existing technology can avoid up to 0.6 degrees of warming by 2050! There is huge scope to reduce these emissions and while there are already initiatives in place to cut SLCPs, we can do so much more. While we wait for more concrete government action, we look to industry to look at the impact they can have. Alongside taking a handle on their own SLCPs, one corporate solution is to look at some beyond value chain mitigation using Recoolit carbon credits, capturing and destroying refrigerant waste. Read the full open letter for three great solutions to increase action against SLCPs.  

By Anna Heis