By The Environmental Investigation Agency UK (EIA)

Five years after EIA first revealed a widespread European illegal trade in hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) climate super pollutant gases, a new investigation has revealed that significant levels of trafficking persist, despite the worsening climate emergency.

Commonly used in refrigeration and air-conditioning, HFCs are being phased out under the European Union (EU) F-gas Regulation. Driven by high profits and weak law enforcement, organised criminals are closely associated with this illicit trade.

EIA’s previous investigation, 2021’s Europe’s Most Chilling Crime, highlighted Romania as a key entry point for illegal HFCs arriving in the EU. In our latest investigation, we uncovered evidence of traders routing illegal HFCs (sourced primarily in Türkiye and China) from Europe’s edge – Bulgaria – across the continent to the likes of Greece, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The investigation demonstrated that traders are becoming more sophisticated and adapting their tactics to elude detection, for example by avoiding banned disposable cylinders and disguising HFCs as less regulated hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) refrigerant alternatives.

London: by the Environmental Investigation Agency UK (EIA), 2024. 34p.

By The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA UK)

The long-standing illegal trade in substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

As Parties to the Montreal Protocol meet in Bangkok for the 45th Open Ended Working Group, they will also attend a workshop on strengthening the effective implementation and enforcement of the Montreal Protocol.

EIA has produced this briefing describing the long history of the illegal trade of controlled substances under the Montreal Protocol, including CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs.

It examines efforts by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol to combat such trade, with consideration of potential next steps to meet the continued and growing challenge of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) and HFC climate crime. EIA has been investigating and documenting the illegal trade in ODS since the mid-1990s, providing unprecedented insights into the dynamics of this multi-million dollar environmental crime, including the shifting smuggling routes and methods used to evade detection.

London: The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA UK) , 2023. 16p.