Choosing your first superpollutant carbon credit

By Nora Amsellem at Barnard College, and the Tradewater team

August 25, 2026

In our previous blog , we gave an overview of the vastness of today’s carbon market and highlighted some of the key considerations for companies that are looking to make an impactful carbon credits purchase.

At Tradewater, we feel strongly that projects tackling superpollutants can offer credit buyers some of the best value and highest integrity credits on the market today. Superpollutants are exponentially more potent than CO₂. Once released, these gases can’t be captured or sequestered. For first-time carbon credit buyers that want to prioritize tangible near-term results, superpollutant credits are a strong choice. In this blog, we’ll dig a little deeper into some of the different superpollutant project types that buyers can choose from.

Types of superpollutant projects

There’s a variety of different superpollutant project types to choose from, and which is best for you will depend on your priorities, timeframes, and overall intent. We’ll take a closer look at the following options:

Methane projects

Methane can leak from orphaned oil and gas wells, get released from organic waste in landfills, and many other sources. Projects targeting this superpollutant seek to stop or reduce these emissions.
Refrigerant projects

Legacy refrigerants such as CFCs and HCFCs are ozone-depleting substances in addition to having extremely high warming potential. Destroying them eliminates the risk of release. Meanwhile, reclaiming refrigerants like HFCs creates a circular economy and reduces the need for new production.
N₂O abatement

Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas that has a warming potential around 270 times that of CO₂. Advanced systems can capture and neutralize nitrous oxide, involved in certain industrial processes.

Methane

Methane is often called the “quiet giant” of greenhouse gases. Emissions sources include energy, industry, agriculture, and waste management. Methane is responsible for nearly a third of today’s global warming, doing all of its damage upfront within the first 20 years in our atmosphere. Cutting methane emissions now can deliver short-term climate benefits.

Project types

Methane projects address emissions from orphaned wells, landfills, farms, and rice agriculture — all sectors where high-impact reductions are possible now.

Plugging orphaned wells

Orphaned wells (non-producing oil and gas wells with no financially solvent, responsible owner) can leak methane for decades if left unaddressed. Plugging projects locate these wells, measure leakage, and permanently seal them using engineered cement plugs that stop emissions at the source. Interest in this project type has grown rapidly, especially among buyers committed to high-impact, near-term climate action. Companies such as Workday have supported methane-focused initiatives.
Landfill gas capture & destruction

When organic waste decomposes in landfills, it generates methane that can escape into the atmosphere unless intercepted. Landfill gas capture projects install networks of extraction wells and piping systems to draw out this gas, which is then combusted or used to produce energy, effectively neutralizing its warming potential. Because landfill gas methodologies are among the most established, they have gained traction with both corporate voluntary buyers and regulated markets. Organizations like Google and multiple North American utilities have transacted landfill methane reductions.
Livestock manure management (solid/liquid separation)

Livestock manure stored in lagoons or pits decomposes anaerobically, producing methane emissions that can be substantial on large farms. Manure management projects reduce these emissions by installing solid–liquid separation systems, sometimes paired with biodigesters that capture and repurpose methane as renewable energy. Major food and agriculture companies have invested in manure-based methane mitigation as part of their Scope 3 supply chain strategies.
Rice cultivation (alternate wetting & drying – AWD)

Traditional flooded rice paddies create the perfect anaerobic environment for methane-producing microbes. AWD interrupts this cycle by periodically draining the fields, reducing methane emissions significantly while often conserving water. Although AWD is still an emerging project type in carbon markets, buyer interest is steadily increasing. Organizations like Artemeter are bringing new technology-enabled AWD projects to market that appeal to buyers.

Assessing methane projects

Ratings for methane projects are not yet consistent across agencies and can vary widely. Key factors driving higher ratings include strong MRV (quantitative measurement of methane avoided), clear additionality, and long-term emissions prevention.

For companies that want to make a big impact in the near term, methane projects are a wise investment. Since methane does all its damage upfront within around 12 years of first entering our atmosphere, projects targeting methane deliver a benefit that will be realized well within our lifetimes.

Methane projects also deliver strong co-benefits to communities. For example, when an orphaned well is plugged, public health and safety improve, and groundwater is protected from contamination. Meanwhile, AWD projects can improve water efficiency.

Refrigerant

Legacy refrigerants remain to be some of the most climate-damaging chemicals ever produced. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) deplete our ozone layer, and some stay our atmosphere for centuries. Meanwhile, Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are potent greenhouse gases with global warming potentials hundreds to thousands of times higher than CO₂. Because these gases are found in equipment across homes, supermarkets, commercial buildings, and industrial facilities, they represent one of the most overlooked yet impactful climate opportunities available today.

Project types

ODS destruction

Ozone-depleting substances (ODS) such as CFC-11 and CFC-12 remain stockpiled worldwide, often in aging cylinders or outdated equipment. If released, these gases contribute both to ozone depletion and extremely high climate forcing. ODS destruction projects locate legacy refrigerant stocks, collect and aggregate them, and then permanently destroy the gases in permitted high-temperature incineration facilities, preventing emissions that otherwise would have occurred as the ODS inevitably leaked. Destruction credits represent pure, permanently avoided emissions.
HFC destruction

The Kigali Amendment builds on the Montreal Protocol by mandating a phasedown of HFCs. While these policies limit future production, billions of tons of HFCs already exist and will remain in circulation for decades. HFCs don’t deplete the ozone in the ways that CFCs and HCFCs do, but they have extremely high global warming potential (GWPs). HFC destruction projects involve identifying stockpiled gases nearing end of life, collecting them, and permanently destroying them to prevent eventual release. These credits appeal to buyers seeking high-integrity climate reductions with strong permanence, especially where there is no regulation about end-of-life management of HFCs.
HFC reclamation

This involves returning used refrigerants to “like-new” purity standards so they can be reused instead of vented. This approach reduces the need for manufacturing new HFCs (a carbon-intensive process) and prevents emissions from improper disposal. Reclamation projects are especially relevant in markets where policy encourages reuse and where reclaimed refrigerants are crucial for maintaining legacy equipment. Buyers of reclamation credits often include corporates pursuing sector-specific decarbonization strategies.
Advanced refrigeration

These projects transition facilities away from high-GWP refrigerants and inefficient systems toward lower-GWP alternatives or cutting-edge technologies. These projects reduce both direct emissions (fugitive refrigerant leaks) and indirect emissions (energy consumption). Large retailers, supermarket chains, and cold-storage operators have been common purchasers, frequently publishing sustainability commitments tied to modernizing their refrigeration systems.

Assessing refrigerant projects

Refrigerant projects generally demonstrate strong additionality, especially ODS and HFC destruction, which often involve legacy stocks with no regulatory obligation for proper disposal. Permanence is exceptionally high for destruction projects because emissions are prevented irreversibly. Advanced refrigeration offers co-benefits including reduced leaks and improved energy performance, though upfront costs and system complexity pose barriers. Reclamation projects depend heavily on robust chain-of-custody verification to ensure integrity: reclamation must avoid crediting gases that would have been reclaimed anyway.

Across all project types, refrigerant management remains one of the clearest pathways to prevent superpollutant emissions at scale.

Nitrous oxide

Three-quarters of nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions come from the agricultural sector, including from the use of fertilizers. While N₂O doesn’t receive the same public attention as CO₂ or methane, yet its climate impact shouldn’t be ignored. Each ton of N₂O destroyed prevents hundreds of tons of CO₂-equivalent from entering the atmosphere, making these projects an efficient use of carbon finance.

Project types

Industrial N₂O abatement projects

These projects install dedicated catalytic or thermal reduction systems on nitric or adipic acid production lines. The systems destroy N₂O at the point of generation, preventing emissions that otherwise would have occurred via venting during chemical manufacturing. Most systems have 90-99% destruction efficiency, making N₂O abatement one of the most direct and measurable industrial climate interventions.

Assessing nitrous oxide projects

Recent trends include stable to rising pricing, driven by supply constraints and strong ratings, as well as increasing buyer interest. Common buyers often include large enterprises in tech, finance, and industrial sectors.

N₂O abatement generally carries a high-integrity profile due to the direct, measurable nature of emissions destroyed. Permanence is extremely high, since catalytic or thermal reduction systems fully eliminate the gas at the point of production. The main integrity considerations center on additionality: rating agencies and buyers closely scrutinize whether plants genuinely rely on carbon finance to install and maintain abatement systems. In locations where regulations or financial incentives already require abatement, crediting is not appropriate.

Take climate action, today

By now, you know a little more about superpollutants, why tackling them is pressing, and perhaps you’re on the way to selecting a project type to explore for your first carbon credit purchase. Whichever superpollutant project type you choose, you’ll be helping to protect our planet from gases that have outsized global warming impacts.

Learn more about Tradewater’s work preventing refrigerant and methane emissions and the climate impact our superpollutant projects have.

Ready to make your first carbon credit purchase?

Learn more about our work

August 25, 2026