2022: A Milestone Year for Tradewater
Tim BrownTradewater is a mission-driven company, and we are in the business of preventing catastrophic climate change.
We aim to make the greatest possible difference in the fight against climate change and do so as quickly as possible.
You may know of Tradewater through our work to collect, control, and destroy the world’s most potent greenhouse and ozone-depleting refrigerant gases.
But you may not be aware of our broader strategies, and how our small team of 40 global employees is working to scale our climate solutions exponentially to achieve the highest climate impact possible. Tradewater has emerged as one of the largest businesses actively developing programs focused on old refrigerant gases. And we work with organizations of all sizes, as well as individuals and households, to help them achieve their sustainability goals – through high-quality carbon offset credits that we generate through our high impact climate solutions and that enable us to fund this urgent work.
Now, we are setting our sights even further: We plan to expand our impact through other non-CO2 gases, particularly by implementing solutions for methane leaking from abandoned oil and gas wells.
Here are a few things we have set our sights on for 2023—and beyond:
- Developing Methane Projects: We are currently developing a new portfolio of carbon offset projects focused on permanently stopping ongoing leaks of methane from entering the atmosphere. Our methane projects focus on plugging abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells – of which there are 2 million in the United States alone – stopping existing leaks and preventing future leaks from these uncontrolled sources.
Methane is 84 times more potent than CO2 and is a short-lived climate pollutant that accelerates climate change in the short term. Therefore, this is a critical strategy in fighting climate change, because it buys more time for longer-term CO2 reduction strategies to be implemented.
- Greater Impact. With all our work to date and your support we have proudly collected, controlled, and destroyed nearly 6 million tons of CO2e. We have set a bold new goal of collecting, controlling, and destroying at least 3 million tons of CO2e annually beginning in 2023. We are dedicated to increasing our impact by preventing at least 22 million tons of CO2e from being released into the atmosphere over the next five years.
Our relationships will enable us to meet these goals. Whether it is a household or a small business seeking to support meaningful climate action, or a larger organization committed to maximizing its climate responsibilities, our expanding projects, partnership programs and high-quality carbon offsets ensure that we can make a significant and permanent climate impact, together. This is the type of ambition we believe is needed to give us a fighting chance to prevent catastrophic climate change.
- Increased global opportunities. The way that the world addresses the climate crisis continues to evolve, and we want to make sure that we are ready to support meaningful climate action every step of the way.
As new carbon offset (compliance) markets mature worldwide, we plan to increase our footprint, allowing more opportunities to scale our impact and ensuring that high-quality, high impact credits are available in these markets. With these increased opportunities for meaningful global climate engagement, we are poised to answer the call to provide high quality offsets to these new markets and to help countries achieve their climate goals.
Preventing catastrophic climate change is up to all of us, and we know it is possible. Let us work together and take urgent action to give our planet a fighting chance.