Why most small firms miss it
Refrigerant doesn't arrive on a bill. Gas and electricity do, so they get counted, while the air conditioning unit on the wall quietly leaks a gas that warms the planet hundreds or thousands of times as much as the same weight of CO2. A single top-up can outweigh months of an office's electricity.
It is Scope 1 because the equipment is yours and the gas escapes directly to the air. A PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan must include all Scope 1 emissions, so if you have air conditioning, heat pumps, chillers or commercial fridges, it belongs in your plan.
The calculation
Kilograms of refrigerant topped up × the factor for that gas = kg CO2e. The amount your engineer added to bring the system back to its proper charge is the best measure of what leaked. The 2026 government factors for common gases:
| Gas | kg CO2e per kg leaked | Where you'll usually find it |
|---|---|---|
| R410A | 1,924 | Office air conditioning and older heat pumps |
| R32 | 677 | Most new air conditioning and many heat pumps |
| R134a | 1,300 | Chillers, vehicle air conditioning, some fridges |
| R407C | 1,624 | Older air conditioning and chillers |
| R404A | 3,943 | Older commercial fridges, freezers and cold rooms |
The factors are the gases' global warming potentials, mostly from the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report, and haven't changed since the 2023 set. The gas type is printed on the unit's label and on the engineer's records.
A worked example
An engineer services an office's split air conditioning and adds 2.5 kg of R410A to replace what leaked during the year:
- 2.5 kg × 1,924 = 4,810 kg CO2e, or 4.81 tonnes
- That's the same as about 36,729 kWh of UK grid electricity at the 2026 factor of 0.13096 kg CO2e per kWh.
For a small office using a few thousand kWh a year, one leak like this can be bigger than the whole electricity footprint. Fixing it is usually one of the cheapest reductions in a plan.
Where to get the data
The F gas rules do most of the work. For most business equipment containing the equivalent of 5 tonnes of CO2 or more, the operator must keep records for five years of:
- the type and amount of gas in the equipment when installed;
- the type and amount added during maintenance;
- the dates and results of leak checks;
- gas recovered and how it was disposed of.
The government's guidance puts that threshold at 2.4 kg of R410A or 1.3 kg of R404A, so many office air conditioning systems and shop cold rooms are covered. Ask your engineer for the year's service sheets and add up the kilograms added. Leak checks are needed at least every 12 months at that size, and more often for larger systems.
Things that trip people up
- Counting the full charge. Only the amount that leaked counts, not what the system holds. A system with a 10 kg charge that needed 1 kg topping up leaked 1 kg.
- Leaving out landlord equipment. If the landlord runs and services the air conditioning, its leaks are normally theirs to report. If you control it and arrange its servicing, include it.
- Using the wrong gas. R404A's factor is about 6 times R32's. Check the label or the service record.
- Assuming a heat pump has no direct emissions. Heat pumps run on refrigerant too, so a leak from one is Scope 1 like any air conditioning unit.
Cutting refrigerant emissions
- Fix leaks quickly and keep to the leak check schedule.
- When a unit is replaced, choose one with a lower-impact gas. R32's factor is about a third of R410A's.
- Make sure old units are emptied by a certified engineer, with the gas recovered rather than released.
How Carbon Recycling helps
Add refrigerant top-ups by gas type and Carbon Recycling applies the right year's government factor, records them as Scope 1 alongside your fuel and vehicles, and carries them into your Carbon Reduction Plan.