By Danielle Gagne, EIA HFC and Climate Policy Analyst
Every year, supermarkets in the United States emit large quantities of ozone-depleting greenhouse gases known as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which are widely used in commercial refrigeration and air conditioning. These gases are not only damaging to the ozone layer, but are super greenhouse gases, thousands of times more damaging than carbon dioxide (CO2). HCFCs are not to be confused with hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. Introduced to replace HCFCs, HFCs do not harm the ozone layer but instead warm the climate exponentially. Therefore, as we replace HCFCs with HFCs, we are trading one super greenhouse gas for another.
For years, your local supermarket has freely emitted HCFCs and HFCs into the atmosphere, largely unchecked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Fortunately, the EPA has started to crack down on companies that are emitting more than the legally permissible threshold of HCFCs. Over the past year, two major supermarket chains have been prosecuted by the EPA and have signed consent agreements requiring them to reduce the amount of ozone depleting gases emitted into the atmosphere.
The two companies, Safeway and Costco, have nearly 2,000 stores around the country and annual net sales of more than $36 billion and $102 billion respectively. Despite both companies’ ability to invest in clean and climate-friendly maintenance practices, they have flagrantly ignored the law.
The agreements resulted in fines of $600,000 for Safeway and $335,000 for Costco in civil penalties. In addition, Costco must fix refrigerant leaks and complete other improvements at 274 of its stores, which will cost approximately $2 million over the next three years. The agreement with Safeway, which was the first of its kind, required the company to reduce emissions from 659 of its stores, which is estimated to cost the retailer $4.1 million.
In response to the EPA consent agreement with Costco, EIA sent a letter to the retail giant, requesting Costco to:
Meet state-of-the-art leak rates of less than 10 percent,
Install CO2 transcritical systems, hydrocarbon micro-distributed systems or other similar low-global warming potential (GWP) alternative system in all new stores, as the energy efficiency gains from installing these systems are significant and will pay for the conversion in a short period of time,
Upgrade and retrofit all existing systems currently using HCFCs, and
Join the members of the Consumer Goods Forum and pledge to “begin phasing out HFC refrigerants as of 2015 and replace them with non-HFC refrigerants (natural refrigerant alternatives) where these are legally allowed and available for new purchases of point-of-sale units and large refrigeration installations.”
As Bob Dylan once sang, “the times they are a-changing.” The ozone hole may be slowly recovering but these “bad apples” are undermining those efforts and the EPA is starting to take notice. Gone are the days of senselessly destroying the ozone layer and global climate. Consumers expect more from their supermarket, and the EPA is beginning to hold supermarkets accountable for their actions.
EIA expects more too, which is why we will be releasing a second edition of our “Dirty Dozen” report next month, identifying climate leaders in the supermarket industry, and the companies continuing to undermine the health of our planet.