Refrigerant emissions for food processors and cold stores

Your refrigeration contractor may already hold the records you need for a customer carbon questionnaire. For food processors, packhouses and cold stores, refrigerant emissions can be calculated from reliable service records or estimated using equipment charge and an appropriate leakage rate.

This guide draws on the NSW DCCEEW emissions-accounting guidelines, August 2026 edition, particularly their refrigerant methods on pages 50–53. They were written for NSW government entities. Their practical methods can inform business inventories where compatible with the reporting framework, but their government reporting obligations do not automatically apply to private businesses.

Are refrigerant emissions Scope 1?

HFC refrigerant emissions from equipment within your organisational boundary are Scope 1 emissions. Emissions from generating the purchased electricity used to run that equipment are Scope 2. Counting electricity alone can therefore miss a separate emissions source.

Under an operational-control approach, check who is responsible for operating and maintaining the equipment. The NSW guide uses maintenance responsibility to classify refrigerant emissions from building services. It also makes clear that engaging a maintenance contractor does not itself transfer operational control to that contractor (page 31).

For leased premises or shared systems, check the lease and responsibilities for each unit. A landlord-maintained central system may need different treatment from a tenant-controlled cold room. Document the decision against your chosen boundary approach. The GHG Protocol leased-asset guidance explains why lease arrangements and the consolidation approach matter.

What refrigeration records do you need?

Start with an equipment register and ask your contractor for records covering the reporting period. Match each service entry to a unit, rather than adding together all refrigerant invoices.

• Equipment: asset identifier, site, equipment type and full refrigerant charge in kilograms.
• Refrigerant: the exact gas or blend designation, taken from the nameplate, specification or service record.
• Servicing: dates, kilograms refilled and the reason for each addition.
• Changes: new equipment, conversions, refrigerant recovered and units retired.
• Evidence: service reports, logbook entries and confirmation that the record set is complete.

A system's full charge is the refrigerant it holds, not its annual emissions. Separate routine refills from initial charging and recovery or replacement work. These events need treatment under the selected method. The 2025 Refrigerant Handling Code of Practice, Part 2 provides context for charging records and logbooks.

How do you calculate refrigerant emissions?

The NSW guide describes two practical methods: a preferred refill approach when reliable service records are available, and a leakage-rate approach when they are not. Select a method appropriate to the equipment and reporting requirements, then apply it consistently.

GWP means 100-year global warming potential. It converts a mass of refrigerant to carbon dioxide equivalent; tCO₂-e means tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. These methods and their limits are explained in the NSW guide, pages 51–53.

A worked refill example

Illustrative scenario: a food processor's complete servicing records show a routine refill of 10 kg of R-134a during the reporting year. The inventory uses the NGA 2025 GWP of 1,300, also reproduced in Table 14 of the NSW guide.

10 kg × 1,300 ÷ 1,000 = 13 tCO₂-e

This is a refill-based accounting estimate, not a measurement of exactly when the gas escaped. It assumes the refill method and factor basis are appropriate for the inventory. Initial charging, conversions and equipment disposal must be considered separately.

When service records are unavailable

First check with the contractor and site manager. Where records remain unavailable, a charge-and-leakage-rate estimate can provide a documented fallback. Match the rate to the equipment: an office split-system assumption is not automatically suitable for industrial refrigeration or a cold store.

For equipment operating for only part of the year, account for the operating period as required by the chosen method. Installation and disposal losses may need separate estimates. Where even charge or refrigerant type is unknown, the NSW guide gives further estimation examples in Appendix C, pages 83–86. Label those assumptions and improve them as equipment information becomes available.

Can you report zero if there were no refrigerant top-ups?

Under the NSW guide's Method A, yes, when an established maintenance-record system supports that no refills occurred during the reporting year. The corresponding refill-based estimate is zero. That is different from assuming zero because nobody can find an invoice.

The guide explicitly recognises that refills may happen less frequently than annually. Method A can therefore produce a spike in a refill year and zero in another year. Explain servicing timing before interpreting a change as an improvement or deterioration in equipment performance (page 52).

For a private business, confirm that this approach is compatible with the framework used for the customer response. Keep the equipment in the register even in a zero-refill year, and retain the basis for the reported result.

Which refrigerant GWP should an Australian business use?

Follow the factor basis required by your reporting framework. The NSW guide prioritises refrigerant GWPs in the Australian National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA) Factors, using additional sources where a value is unavailable. It does not replace every available NGA value with a newer IPCC value (pages 47–51).

For example, its NGA 2025-based R-134a value is 1,300. This article uses that stated edition for the worked example, not as a claim that one factor suits every reporting year or framework. Record the source, edition and exact refrigerant alongside each calculation.

The Commonwealth NGA Factors support broad emissions estimates. NGER reporting has prescribed methods under its Measurement Determination. Do not transfer a scheme-specific equipment threshold or exclusion into a general business inventory without checking its applicability.

Not every system uses an HFC. Ammonia (R-717), carbon dioxide (R-744), HFOs and older HCFCs require their own factor and reporting treatment. A gas appearing in a GWP table does not, by itself, establish that it belongs in the same inventory total as HFCs.

Our NGA emission factors lookup helps locate Australian factors. Check the original publication and the basis required for your inventory before applying a value.

What should you send your customer?

Provide the result with enough context to explain it: reporting period, sites and equipment covered, boundary approach, refrigerant types, calculation method, factor source and any estimates or gaps.

A concise explanation for the illustrative refill example could read:

Refrigerant emissions were estimated from complete servicing records for equipment within our operational-control boundary. Recorded routine refills were 10 kg of R-134a. Applying the NGA 2025 GWP of 1,300 gives 13 tCO₂-e. The result uses a refill-based method; refill timing may differ from the timing of physical leakage.

Use that wording only where it accurately describes your records and method. A business-wide Scope 1 and 2 total is not a product's complete cradle-to-gate footprint. Confirm whether the buyer needs an organisational inventory or a product-specific calculation.

A customer questionnaire also does not automatically create a statutory reporting obligation for the supplier. ASIC explains how smaller suppliers can receive requests from larger reporting businesses. For the wider response, see our supplier carbon questionnaire guide and Scope 1, 2 and 3 data checklist.

Common refrigerant-accounting questions

Does outsourcing refrigeration maintenance make the emissions Scope 3?

No, outsourcing maintenance alone does not transfer operational control. Check who controls the equipment and the maintenance responsibilities under the lease or operating arrangements. The contractor holding the records does not automatically make the emissions theirs.

Can you choose whichever calculation method gives the lower result?

No. Select the method based on the reporting requirements and available evidence. Document it, apply it consistently and explain any justified change. Refill and leakage-rate methods can differ because they represent losses differently over time.

Do NSW government guidelines apply to a Queensland food business?

Their government obligations do not automatically apply. A Queensland or other Australian business can draw on the practical methodology where it fits its own reporting framework, while clearly identifying the source and assumptions.

Sources and methodology

Sources checked on 11 October 2026. The accounting examples are illustrative, not client results.

1. NSW DCCEEW, Greenhouse gas emissions accounting and reporting guidelines, August 2026: page 31 for maintenance responsibility; pages 47–53 for factors and refrigerant methods; Appendix C, pages 83–86 for missing-data examples.
2. Australian Government, National Greenhouse Accounts Factors 2025: factor source used in the worked example.
3. GHG Protocol, Calculating HFC and PFC Emissions from Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Equipment: lifecycle methods and estimation limitations. Its historical factor tables are not used for the worked example.
4. Refrigerant Handling Code of Practice 2025, Part 2: sections 6.7 and 7.4 on records and logbooks.