Indonesia start-up captures coolants to stop global warming

IN THE basement of a Jakarta housing complex, surrounded by the silver piping of the air-conditioning system, Indonesian technician Ari Sobaruddin is doing his part to tackle climate change.

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Ari and his colleagues will spend 12 hours capturing AC refrigerant to stop this “super-pollutant” - thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide from leaking into the atmosphere.

It is plodding, sweaty work, but Ari, a member of climate startup Recoolit, does not mind.

“I love it because it’s about preserving nature, saving nature,” the 30-year-old technician said.

Recoolit began working in Indonesia in 2021 to tackle what it considers an often-overlooked contributor to climate change: refrigerants.

These gases found in air-conditioners, fridges and cars are an old environmental problem.

In the 1970s, research showed refrigerants called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were destroying the ozone layer.

Countries agreed to phase them out under a deal that came into force in 1989.

While their replacements, particularly hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), are less harmful to the ozone layer, they still have major climate-warming properties.

“And those are in AC units, in the form of refrigerant banks... everywhere in developing countries right now,” said Recoolit’s head of operations Yosaka Eka Putranta.

There are international agreements to phase out HFCs too, but, particularly in developing countries, they will be in use for decades yet.

Demand is increasing as climate change fuels record temperatures and expanding middle classes seek cooling and refrigeration.