UNEP - UNEP Ozone Secretariat, Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps Technical Options Committee (RTOC)

The global warming potential of 195 refrigerants and refrigerant blends, from the annex of the UN Environment Programme's 2022 refrigeration assessment: what one kilogram released to the air weighs in CO2 equivalent.

IntergovernmentalSpecialistOpen licence
Factors
191
Values
538

One per year and method

Regions
1
Edition
2022

published 1 Jan 2023 · all versions

Last loaded
16 Oct 2026

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Overview

Under the Montreal Protocol, the UN Environment Programme's Ozone Secretariat convenes technical options committees that assess the alternatives to ozone-depleting substances every four years. The Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps Technical Options Committee (RTOC) wrote the 2022 Assessment Report, printed in January 2023. Its Annex 3.I lists the refrigerants the committee assesses: 67 single substances (Table 3.I-1), 130 zeotropic blends (Table 3.I-2) and 20 azeotropic blends (Table 3.I-3), with their chemistry, safety class, and global warming potential (GWP).

A refrigerant's GWP is the factor for a leak: kilograms of refrigerant lost from a system, times the GWP, give kilograms of CO2 equivalent.

At a glance

Publisher
UNEP Ozone Secretariat, Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps Technical Options Committee (RTOC)
Kind
Intergovernmental
Scope
SpecialistOne category holds at least 5% of its factors: Direct emissions, with 100.0%. A generalist needs 4.
Home region
World
Edition
2022
Licence
Open licence (no-copyright-asserted)

What open-climate.ai standardised

over the publisher's own fileHow we standardise
5 more things standardised

Audit checks

131 passed2 known limitations3 enforced when loadedlast run 22 Oct 2026

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Needs attention

  • Values that exclude a carbon pool list the gases behind the total

    Known limitation · 191 in this library · 180,272 in all libraries

  • Single-gas values have their AR6 version

    Known limitation · 1 in this library · 8 in all libraries

One category axis

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  • Every source category maps to our vocabulary

    Enforced when loaded

  • The publisher's classification is kept

    Passed

  • Every classification level has a valid parent

    Passed

  • Every product code comes with the codes above it

    Passed

  • A publisher's own classification is used only by that publisher

    Passed

  • A standard classification code has one label in every library

    Passed

Coded regions

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  • Every region is a known code

    Enforced when loaded

  • No named region is filed under a broader one

    Passed

  • Every region sits in the world hierarchy

    Passed

Canonical units

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  • Every unit is a known code

    Enforced when loaded

  • One source unit maps to one unit

    Passed

  • A unit label means the same in every library

    Passed

  • A unit label that names no basis folds one way

    Passed · 2 in all libraries

Declared boundaries

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  • Every boundary states what it includes

    Passed

  • Boundary scope terms are known codes

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  • No two factors for the same activity partly overlap in scope

    Passed

  • Separate stages of one activity are linked as parts

    Passed

  • Every part of a factor states its boundary

    Passed

  • Every biofuel counted with its biogenic CO2 says how much

    Passed

  • No recycling credit is hidden inside a life-cycle total

    Passed

  • No burden value hides a credit inside it

    Passed · 348 in all libraries

Warming potentials

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  • Methane and nitrous oxide figures match the stated GWP

    Passed

  • Every convertible value has its AR6 version

    Passed

  • CO2e totals leave out what their basis excludes

    Passed

  • Values that exclude a carbon pool list the gases behind the total

    Known limitation · 191 in this library · 180,272 in all libraries

  • Standardised figures keep every gas the publisher lists

    Passed

  • Every value states what its CO2e total includes

    Passed

  • A library with no AR6 version at all has a recorded reason

    Passed

Data quality

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  • Quality ratings fall inside their scale

    Passed

  • Every zero value is explained

    Passed

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    Passed

  • No implausibly high per-kilogram value is rated reliable

    Passed

  • Every quality level gives a recognised reason

    Passed

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    Passed

  • The library is not rated entirely on one fallback quality level

    Passed

Languages

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  • Every factor has an English name

    Passed

  • Translations match the current source text

    Passed

  • Translations follow a corrected source text

    Passed

  • Recorded translations survive a reload

    Passed

  • Every served factor has a name

    Passed

  • Factors are searched on their English name where one exists

    Passed · 24 in all libraries

  • Every language with a main name also has a full name

    Passed

  • Full names are built from their parts in the same language

    Passed

  • Every text is labelled with its real language

    Passed

  • Every description is available for display and translation

    Passed

  • Every usage note is available for display and translation

    Passed

Traceable to the source

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  • Values traced to one source row agree with each other

    Passed

  • No duplicate factors are served

    Passed

  • No factor value claims two things that cannot both be true

    Passed

  • No energy factor answers a question about packaging or recycling

    Passed · 169 in all libraries

  • No factor value the publisher has withdrawn is still served

    Passed · 14,762 in all libraries

Other checks

  • One activity keeps one family across its units

    Passed · 8 in all libraries

  • An activity's grouping key names only the activity

    Passed · 12 in all libraries

  • A Creative Commons credit names its licence

    Passed

  • No note of ours appears in the credit or licence notice

    Passed

  • The credit line carries no terms of use

    Passed

  • Every part links to a valid parent

    Passed

  • Every impact assessment method is a recognised code

    Passed

  • Summed totals keep their parts' classification

    Passed

  • Every summed total has a classification when its parts do

    Passed

  • Green-electricity zeros are not rated below market-based peers

    Passed

  • An avoided credit is linked to the burden it belongs to

    Passed

  • Every value is typed as specific, generic or average

    Passed

  • The market-based value is the default

    Passed

  • Summed totals equal their parts on every gas

    Passed

  • No total is served when one of its parts is withheld

    Passed

  • Validity dates are the publisher's own, never guessed

    Passed

  • Every district-heat factor says whether the network's heat loss is included

    Passed · 2 in all libraries

  • Quality breakdowns use their scheme's axes

    Passed

  • No battery-electric vehicle carries tailpipe emissions

    Passed

  • The text of each estimated electricity total matches its current figures

    Passed

  • Every estimated factor carries its description in each language

    Passed

  • The text of each estimated factor matches its current figures

    Passed

  • A total built on an estimated part is marked as estimated

    Passed

  • Every estimate is built only from data we may redistribute

    Passed

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    Passed

  • No estimate repeats a stage the publisher's total already includes

    Passed

  • Every factor we complete has all of its estimated parts

    Passed · 25 in all libraries

  • No estimate is served where the publisher printed the figure

    Passed

  • We only estimate for publishers whose rule allows it

    Passed

  • Every estimated factor still matches the inputs it was computed from

    Passed

  • No estimated total competes with a published one

    Passed

  • Every factor with a current value has a default

    Passed

  • Every factor has a value, in a library that publishes values

    Passed

  • The text of each fuel supply-chain estimate matches its current figures

    Passed

  • No fuel supply-chain estimate is rated above what its method allows

    Passed

  • Every fuel estimate is built only from data we may redistribute

    Passed

  • Every fuel eligible for a supply-chain estimate is classified

    Passed

  • No fuel estimate is served where the publisher printed the supply-chain figure

    Passed

  • No supply-chain estimate is served for a fuel we deliberately left out

    Passed

  • Every fuel supply-chain estimate still matches the figures it was computed from

    Passed

  • Per-gas values are in CO2e

    Passed

  • Every tagged gas has a known GWP

    Passed

  • Every fixed group of regions lists what it covers

    Passed

  • Where both exist, the residual mix is shown before the green-tariff zero

    Passed

  • Every green-electricity zero is a market-based value

    Passed

  • Every electricity factor states its mix

    Passed

  • The newest edition of each value is the one marked current

    Passed

  • Every publisher has a rule on whether we estimate its missing parts

    Passed

  • Factor descriptions describe the factor, not the whole library

    Passed · 2 in all libraries

  • Every library's licence has its rights recorded

    Passed

  • No fossil electricity mix has a zero fuel supply chain

    Passed

  • Every green-electricity zero is exactly zero and says why

    Passed

  • Green-electricity zeros cover power generation only

    Passed

  • Only a total we computed may mix GWP vintages

    Passed

  • Spend factors state their price year and basis

    Passed

  • One default value per factor and year

    Passed

  • No electricity or heat factor answers network losses against its stage

    Passed · 4 in all libraries

  • Every value has a number, a GWP version and a reference year

    Passed

  • Only a library cleared for it lists factors without their number

    Passed

  • Product footprints headline fossil carbon, like EPDs

    Passed

  • No factor description is too long to display in full

    Passed · 5 in all libraries

  • The library-wide answers on what a factor covers are up to date

    Passed

  • Every library-wide answer applies to at least one factor

    Passed · 3 in all libraries

  • Every excused arithmetic disagreement is stated

    Passed

  • Every reference year falls between 1960 and next year

    Passed

  • Each library's current edition is the one its values come from

    Passed

  • No two editions of a library share a release date

    Passed

  • The parts of a total are never listed twice under one label

    Passed

  • Every residual mix has its green-tariff counterpart

    Passed

  • Every factor points to its top parent

    Passed

  • Every conservative value carries the same label

    Passed

  • Every publisher's quality rating system is read

    Passed

  • Every factor is filed under the most specific category its source allows

    Passed · 4,552 in all libraries

  • Every factor has a category

    Passed

  • Every categorised factor has a GHG Protocol scope

    Passed · 2 in all libraries

  • Single-gas values have their AR6 version

    Known limitation · 1 in this library · 8 in all libraries

  • No factor answers a question that does not arise for it

    Passed · 11 in all libraries

  • No part is larger than the total it belongs to

    Passed

  • A supplier named in the source is linked to the factor

    Passed

  • No factor is an unlinked part of another factor

    Passed

  • A part covering the same scope as its total is linked to it

    Passed

  • Every device total that includes its use also gives the manufacturing share (embodied emissions)

    Passed · 112 in all libraries

  • No plug-in vehicle supply-chain estimate is rated above what its method allows

    Passed

  • A year in a factor's name matches its reference year

    Passed

How the audit works

What can I do with this data?

Open licence

Your rights

Open licence · no-copyright-asserted
Use it to calculate my own footprint
Yes
Publish my footprint results
Yes
Share the file with my customers
Unclear: ask UNEP Ozone Secretariat
Put the factors in a product I sell
Unclear: ask UNEP Ozone Secretariat
Modify it or combine it with my own data
Yes

Publisher's published terms, checked on 15 Oct 2026

The imprint page of the UNEP RTOC 2022 Assessment Report (ISBN 978-9914-733-93-8) states "No copyright involved"; no other licence term appears in the PDF text layer, the DOCX XML, the disclaimer or the landing page (the only other hits are cited papers). Not a waiver and not a statute, so neither CC0 nor public domain: the publisher asserts no copyright on the work. An imprint is not a named licence, a statute or a written confirmation, so sharing and embedding stay unclear under the owner's rule. Applied to unep (IMP-0074).

Credit line

UNEP (2023). 2022 Report of the Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps Technical Options Committee, 2022 Assessment. Ozone Secretariat, UNEP, Nairobi. ISBN 978-9914-733-93-8. Normalised by open-climate.ai, https://open-climate.ai/factors/libraries/unep/ (CC BY 4.0)

Not legal advice: the publisher's terms prevail.

Full terms

How to read these answers

Coverage

What the library covers, by category and by boundary. Click a slice to drill in, then a sub-category or a boundary to filter the factors below.

By category

Direct emissions: 191
191factors

Click a slice to see what is under it. A name opens its category page; its swatch hides it from the ring.

By boundary

Direct only: 191
191factors

Click a slice to see what is under it. Click a name to hide it from the ring.

Browse factors

top 0 matches

SavedUnfoldFactorRegionBoundary
Unit
VersionPublishedLoadedStatusSource
20221 Jan 202316 Oct 2026ServedSource

Methodology

How this works
  • The annex prints three GWP columns per refrigerant. Two come from the WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 2022: the 100-year GWP and the 20-year GWP. The third is the 100-year GWP the Montreal Protocol itself uses, which takes the values of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4, 2007).
  • The 100-year WMO 2022 value is the default. On four refrigerants that column prints no number (<1 or a blank), and the 20-year value is the default instead: IFC-13I1, HC-170 (ethane), HCFO-1224yd(Z) and HFO-1234yf. The other columns are loaded beside the default and are used only when you ask for them.
  • The WMO 2022 values are their own GWP vintage, labelled wmo2022. They are close to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) but differ on most substances, so they are not relabelled AR6 and no AR6 version of them is computed.
  • One exception: the annex takes the GWPs of HE-E170 (dimethyl ether) from IPCC 2007, so its two WMO-column values are labelled AR4.
  • The Montreal Protocol column is in AR4. Where our species table holds both the AR4 and the AR6 GWP of the substance (20 values), open-climate.ai also serves an AR6 version, scaled by the ratio of the two; the others stay in AR4.
  • A blend's GWP is the mass-weighted mean of its components. We checked that against the single substances: on 68 of the 69 blends whose components are all in Table 3.I-1, the printed GWP is within 0.5 % of the computed one, and the largest gap is 1.3 % (R-435A).
  • For the Montreal Protocol column, the annex marks the blends whose value counts only the controlled components (footnote a, 97 values). Hydrocarbons and other components outside the Protocol count as zero there. Those values are flagged in the record.
  • The annex rounds GWPs below 1 up to 1. Where a WMO column prints 1 for a substance whose true GWP is lower, the value is flagged as printed as one (16 100-year and 14 20-year values). CO2 (R-744), the reference gas, is exactly 1 and is not flagged.
  • Every value is per kilogram of refrigerant released, global, with a fugitive boundary. A GWP is a property of the molecule and has no data year: the reference year is 2022, the assessment edition.

Edition year: 2022, the RTOC assessment the tables belong to (and the WMO 2022 vintage of its headline GWPs), not the January 2023 print date. A GWP is a property of the molecule and has no data year.

What we import

  • 195 factors, one per refrigerant row that prints at least one GWP: 45 single substances, 130 zeotropic blends and 20 azeotropic blends.
  • 542 values: 191 100-year WMO 2022 values, 195 20-year WMO 2022 values and 156 Montreal Protocol values.
  • Factor names are the refrigerant designations as printed (HFC-134a, R-404A, HFO-1234yf). The detail is the chemical name of a single substance or the composition of a blend, for example R-125/143a/134a (44.0/52.0/4.0). The chemical formula is kept as a search tag.
  • The single substances are classified by the annex's chemical series (methane series, ethane series, ethers, hydrocarbons and so on), 10 series over 45 factors. All factors are placed in the open-climate.ai category tree under fugitive emissions and refrigerants.
  • Two R-400 rows print different compositions under the same designation; both are loaded, as two factors.
  • Not imported: the 22 single substances that print no GWP number. 11 print it as below 1 (<1 or <<1): propane, butane, isobutane, pentane, isopentane, ethene, propene, ammonia, HCC-1130(E), HFO-1132(E) and HFO-1132a. 11 leave it blank: water, hydrogen, helium, neon, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, sulphur dioxide, ethyl ether, R-630 and R-631. Also not imported: the 25 rows of Chapter 3's own tables, which repeat annex rows.

Open. The report's imprint states "No copyright involved" and sets no other terms. Using the values for your own footprint, publishing results and combining them with other data are allowed. Sharing the values with customers and embedding them in a product are not settled: an imprint that asserts no copyright is not a named licence, and we have not yet obtained the UNEP Ozone Secretariat's written confirmation. Confirm with the Ozone Secretariat before you do. Naming the source is not a stated condition; we name it anyway. The credit line is: "UNEP (2023). 2022 Report of the Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps Technical Options Committee, 2022 Assessment. Ozone Secretariat, UNEP, Nairobi. ISBN 978-9914-733-93-8." Last verified 2026-10-15.

What can I do with this data?

Credit line: UNEP (2023). 2022 Report of the Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps Technical Options Committee, 2022 Assessment. Ozone Secretariat, UNEP, Nairobi. ISBN 978-9914-733-93-8.

no-copyright-asserted

No copyright involved

Limitations

  • A GWP covers the gas released, nothing else. The energy a system uses, its manufacture and its end-of-life treatment are not in these factors.
  • The WMO 2022 GWPs are not in the vintage most national inventories report in (AR4 or AR5) nor in AR6. Mixing them with factors from another vintage in one total is a choice to state.
  • Values below 1 are printed as 1, which overstates the gases flagged as printed as one; on a leak of a few kilograms the difference is negligible.
  • The Montreal Protocol values of the 97 flagged blends leave out their uncontrolled components and understate those blends.
  • Hydrocarbon and ammonia refrigerants (R-290, R-600a, R-717 and the others printed below 1) have no factor here. The annex prints their GWP as below 1, so a leak of them weighs little in CO2 equivalent, but this library gives no number for it.
  • This library does not replace the refrigerant factors of a national library. Where both cover a substance, both are served, each with its own default value.
  • All 542 values are rated high quality, the level we give an assessment panel of the Montreal Protocol. The report prints no uncertainty and no rating of its own.
  • How quality tiers are set.

Changelog

  • 2026-10-16: RTOC 2022 Assessment, Annex 3.I loaded (195 refrigerants, 542 values).

Highlighted factor pages

A selection of UNEP factors, with each value, boundary, source and derivation.

Direct emissionsFugitive emissions and refrigerants

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