Our story
Some of the most successful companies in the world started with a small, innovative team working out of a garage (Disney, Apple, Google and Amazon, to name a few). We started in a similar way—it just happened we had a basement instead of a garage.
Where it began
The beginnings of Tradewater germinated when California’s cap-and-trade program was launched in 2012. Co-founder Tim Brown was tracking the program, and noted that ozone depleting substances (ODS) such as CFCs qualified. He also realized that you could still buy these gases–on eBay. So he did.
As Tim continued purchasing old canisters across the United States, it soon became clear he needed to commandeer his basement to store it all. Quickly, it began to fill up.
As Tim continued collecting this material, he turned to figuring out how to safely and efficiently destroy the gases, enabling him to take part in the California compliance market. He was soon joined by Gabe Plotkin, and Tradewater was officially born in 2016, opening its Chicago office, and another in San Jose, Costa Rica in 2019.
Tim and Gabe’s mission was to tackle some of the thorniest climate issues by finding forgotten or commercially non-viable industrial super pollutant gases and converting them into carbon offset credits to fund future work.
Tradewater's global search for halocarbons
The astronomical scale of greenhouse gases worldwide was clear; Tradewater quickly expanded. In Ghana, we began by locating and safely destroying a massive stockpile of unused R-12 CFCs, took on more projects there, and expanded until we were implementing projects across four continents.
Our global success has in large part been a result of our collaborative work with local and national governments, UN implementation agencies, and strong partnerships with a growing number of companies.
With this wide geographic footprint established, we began making thoughtful inroads to deepen our impact, by creating a variety of programs and partnerships to help our customers meet their specific climate goals. This now includes helping companies with their outdated refrigerant systems, and providing programs tailored specifically for the needs of higher ed institutions.
As part of our mission to be a business for good, we became a certified B Corp in 2022, with our work meeting UN Sustainability Goals focused on promoting prosperity while protecting the planet.
Expanding our impact
Our most recent major expansion in 2023 addresses methane, another critical super pollutant gas leaking from a forgotten source—orphaned oil wells.
These wells have no owner, and yet pose a serious climate risk, with a GWP of 84 times that of CO2 and representing over 30% of today’s global warming temperatures from climate change.
Tradewater's climate mission
Learn more about Tradewater’s mission combating climate change by mitigating potent greenhouse gases.
