Technical Explainer: Ozone-Depleting Substances Carbon Credits

This technical explainer by RMI analyzes the voluntary carbon market (VCM) for ozone-depleting substances (ODS) recovery and destruction credits. It details how these projects provide high-additionality climate benefits by permanently destroying potent greenhouse gases like CFCs, while identifying significant logistical, legal, and technical barriers to scaling, particularly in developing nations.

• ODS destruction projects are considered highly additional and impactful because they incentivize the permanent disposal of potent greenhouse gases that are often illegally vented or leaked from equipment, activities that current regulatory frameworks typically fail to address.
• The VCM for ODS credits is well-established, with nearly 7 million credits issued across six methodologies from the Climate Action Reserve (CAR), American Carbon Registry (ACR), and Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). These credits have a retirement rate of 73.5%, the highest of any project type with over 1 million credits.
• The United States dominates the VCM ODS market, accounting for 74.6% of credits issued as of 2025. Thailand follows with 16%, largely due to a partnership between the Thai Government and Tradewater to destroy customs stockpiles.
• Scaling ODS projects faces four primary barriers: a lack of TEAP-approved destruction facilities in Article 5 (developing) countries, complex cross-border transport restrictions under the Basel Convention, gaps in technical recovery capacity, and the high cost and difficulty of extracting ODSs from insulation foams.
• The primary quality risks for ODS credits are related to monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of the chain of custody and uncertainties in baseline leakage assumptions. While MRV risks are 'Very Common,' they are rated as 'Low Concern' because they can be mitigated through digital MRV, government cooperation, and strict methodology requirements.
• A debate exists regarding the crediting approach: current methodologies use 'bulk' crediting (issuing all credits upon verified destruction), while some scientists propose 'gradual' crediting to mirror how emissions would have leaked over time.
• There are significant equity concerns as most projects source ODSs from Article 5 countries but transport them to developed nations for destruction, often without compensating the country of origin or investing in local capacity.

APA

RMI (2025). Technical Explainer: Ozone-Depleting Substances Carbon Credits. https://rmi.org/resources/technical-explainer-ozone-depleting-substances-carbon-credits/

Chicago

RMI. Technical Explainer: Ozone-Depleting Substances Carbon Credits. 2025. https://rmi.org/resources/technical-explainer-ozone-depleting-substances-carbon-credits/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Technical Explainer: Ozone-Depleting Substances Carbon Credits |date=30 July 2025 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/technical-explainer-ozone-depleting-substances-carbon-credits/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2025technical, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Technical Explainer: Ozone-Depleting Substances Carbon Credits}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/technical-explainer-ozone-depleting-substances-carbon-credits/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }